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Si)riiigtime  in  the  Garden. 


LANDSCAPE  GARDENING 

HOW    TO    LAY    OUT    A    GARDEN 


BY 

EDWARD  KEMP 

LANDSCAPE  GARDENER 


EDITED,   REVISED  AND  ADAPTED  TO 
NORTH  AMERICA 

BY     • 

F.   A.   WAUGH 

Professor  of  Landscape  Gardening,  Massachusetts 
Agricultural  College 


FOURTH  EDITION 
THIRD  THOUSAND 


NEW  YORK 
JOHN   WILEY  &  SONS 

LONDON :  CHAPMAN  &  HALL,  MMITED 
19:2  ^>,   ,,,,,  ^ 


Copyright,  191  i 

BY 

F.    A.    WAUGH 


Stanbopc  ipress 

F.    H.   G  ILbON     CO  MP 
BOSTOH.     U.S.A. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 

Page 
Preface  to  the  First  Edition vii 

Preface  to  the  American  Edition xii 

Biographical  Note xv 

CHAPTER  I 
The  Choice  of  a  Place i 

CHAPTER  n 
What  to  Avoid 28 

CHAPTER  HI 
General  Principles 46 

CHAPTER  IV 
The  Several  Styles 107 

CHAPTER   V 
Practical  Considerations 127 

CHAPTER   VI 
Particular  Objects 175 

CHAPTER  VII 
Special  Features 194 

CHAPTER  VIII 
Various  Accessories 234 

CHAPTER  IX 
Practical  Directions 257 


V 


68904 


PREFACE   TO   THE   FIRST   EDITION 


It  is  a  salutary  axiom,  especially  in  this  book-making  age, 
that  no  volume  should  be  sent  before  the  public  without 
something  beyond  a  private  reason  for  its  appearance.  It 
requires  to  be  shown  that  other  people  have  an  interest  to  be 
served  by  it,  and  that  the  author's  own  pleasure  or  advantage 
is  not  alone  consulted. 

But  even  this  plea,  however  well  made  out,  will  not  be  a 
sufficient  or  satisfactory  excuse  for  publication,  unless  the 
work  be  very  erudite  or  far  in  advance  of  the  times  and 
calculated  to  benefit  future  generations.  For  an  ordinary 
volume,  on  a  common  subject,  the  additional  justification 
of  being  adapted  and  required  for  the  use  of  large  numbers 
of  the  people  is  demanded. 

How  far,  then,  these  requirements  can  be  substantiated  in 
reference  to  the  present  unassuming  little  essay  the  reader 
will  easily  be  able  to  judge  when  its  origin  and  purport  are 
explained. 

Having  spent  a  good  deal  of  time  in  passing  through  the 
suburbs  of  large  towns,  the  author,  in  common  with  many 
others  whom  he  has  had  the  opportunity  of  conversing  with, 
has  been  very  much  impressed  with  the  incongruity  and  dull- 
ness observable  in  the  majority  of  small  gardens,  and  been 
led  strongly  to  wish  that  the  general  appearance  of  such 
districts  were  more  gratifying  to  the  passers-by,  and  the 
arrangement  of  individual  gardens  more  productive  of  pleas- 
ure to  the  several  occupants.  There  is  such  a  humanizing 
and  elevating  influence  about  everything  that  is  really  beauti- 


viii  Preface 


fill,  whether  in  Art  or  in  Nature,  that  it  is  almost  impossible 
for  the  observant  wayfarer  to  stumble  upon  such  objects 
without  being  cheered  and  benefited,  while  their  effect  on 
those  who  have  them  daily  beneath  their  eye  is  of  a  still 
deeper  kind. 

From  the  author's  every-day  intercourse  with  gentlemen 
who  are  either  laying  out  new  grounds  or  are  seeking  to 
amend  errors  in  design  formerly  committed,  he  is  also  enabled 
to  perceive  that  sound  and  useful  information  is  greatly 
wanted  on  the  subject  of  landscape  gardening,  and  that  to 
this  defect  are  mainly  attributable  the  deformities  so  lament- 
ably frequent.  He  feels  certain,  moreover,  that  other  land- 
scape gardeners  will  bear  him  out  in  the  assertion,  that  their 
services  are  more  employed  to  remedy  irregularities  which 
have  been  fallen  into  for  want  of  due  consideration  and  en- 
lightenment, than  to  furnish  entirely  new  designs.  And  the 
difificulty  and  expense  of  rectifying  such  errors  can  scarcely 
be  overestimated.  It  is  wisely  ordained  that  while  a  truly 
beautiful  object  will  yield  permanent  and  increasing  dehght, 
everything  of  a  contrary  nature  is  nearly  sure,  at  some 
period  or  other,  to  pall  and  disgust  the  mind. 

As  far  as  the  writer's  own  observation  has  extended,  —  and 
he  has  reason  to  believe  that  is  a  fair  criterion  of  the  real 
facts  of  the  case,  —  there  is  no  v/ant  of  appreciation,  among 
the  classes  for  whom  this  work  is  intended,  of  what  is  tasteful 
and  elegant  in  gardening.  Most  persons  are  able  to  admire 
a  chaste  and  beautiful  garden  when  they  see  it.  What  is 
rather  required  is  something  or  some  one  to  develop  and  guide 
their  tastes  and  direct  them  to  fitting  objects. 

On  all  these  accounts,  then,  and  as  a  humble  but  earnest 
effort  to  supply  these  demands,  the  book  now  submitted  has 
been  written.  It  is  clearly  required  by  the  multitude,  for  how 
few  there  are  among  the  middle  classes  who  do  not  possess  a 


Preface  ix 


small  garden!  And  the  very  extreme  of  smallness  will  not 
exclude  a  place  from  the  beneficent  influence  of  art,  which  is, 
perhaps,  all  the  more  necessary  and  powerful  in  proportion  as 
the  limits  become  more  contracted.  Still,  a  garden  varying 
in  extent  from  a  quarter  of  an  acre  to  four  or  five  acres,  and 
either  wholly  without  an  accompanying  field,  or  having  one 
that  comprises  from  one  to  twenty-five  acres,  is  what  has 
been  chiefly  kept  in  view. 

Nor  will  places  of  greater  size  and  more  pretension  than 
have  been  actually  contemplated  in  the  outline  of  the  work 
be  altogether  beyond  its  range.  Unambitious  as  it  is  in  its 
title  and  leading  object,  it  may  not  be  without  interest  or  use 
to  the  proprietor  of  a  large  domain.  In  its  radical  principles 
art  is  essentially  the  same,  whether  it  apply  to  a  great  or  a 
little  object;  and,  reHeved  of  whatever  is  peculiar  in  its  refer- 
ence to  small  places  (this  being  distinctly  pointed  out,  where 
it  is  requisite  to  do  so)  the  points  of  which  the  book  promi- 
nently treats  are  such  as  embrace  both  extensive  and  Hmited 
estates  indiscriminately.  The  author's  hope  is,  consequently, 
while  writing  for  a  large  and  particular  section  of  the  com- 
munity, not  entirely  to  shut  out  a  smaller  but  higher  or  more 
wealthy  class. 

The  work  of  the  late  indefatigable  Mr.  Loudon,  on  Subur- 
ban Gardening,  being  somewhat  of  the  nature  of  the  present 
more  restricted  production,  may  be  mentioned  with  the 
greatest  respect,  as  a  voluminous  and  ample  treatise  on  every- 
thing relating  to  the  subject.  The  book  now  submitted 
covers  but  a  fragment  of  the  same  field,  without,  it  is  believed, 
at  all  trenching  on  the  province  of  its  predecessor,  it  having 
been  the  aim  to  avoid,  as  far  as  possible,  traveling  over 
beaten  and  frequented  ground.  The  price  and  portableness 
of  this  volume  will  further  place  it  at  an  immense  distance 
from  whatever  has  preceded  it. 


Preface 


Such  being,  in  brief,  the  nature,  object,  and  occasion  of  the 
essay  which  follows,  a  few  words  only  remain  to  be  said  on  its 
materials  and  execution.  There  is  nothing  of  egotism  (cer- 
tainly nothing  intentional)  in  the  remark  that  these  pages 
have  sprung  out  of  the  author's  own  reflection  and  observa- 
tion, and  have  often  been  jotted  down  of  an  evening,  or  dur- 
ing a  journey,  as  the  result  of  daily  experience.  It  is  very 
likely  that  a  more  finished  and  comprehensive  and  readable 
book  might  have  been  produced  by  the  use  of  frequent  quota- 
tion and  copious  illustration  from  other  and  less  easily  attain- 
able works.  This,  however,  was  no  part  of  the  original  plan ; 
though  it  should  be  added,  that  since  its  completion  the  best 
books  on  the  art  have  been  glanced  over,  and  a  few  valu- 
able hints,  which  have  been  mostly  acknowledged,  gleaned 
from  Sir  Uvedale  Price,  Mr.  Repton,  and  Mr.  Loudon.  The 
work  of  Sir  U.  Price  on  "  The  Picturesque  "  is  probably  the 
most  valuable  thing  of  the  kind  in  our  language.  To  have 
collected  more  from  these,  or  Mr.  Gilpin,  or  any  other 
authority,  would  have  entirely  altered  the  limits  and  inten- 
tion of  the  essay. 

At  the  outset  of  his  task,  it  was  the  author's  purpose  to 
have  illustrated  the  volume  with  a  number  of  woodcuts,  show- 
ing how  the  various  suggestions  might  be  actually  carried  out, 
and  supplying  designs  for  a  few  gardens  of  different  sizes  in 
the  two  principal  styles.  Well-selected  lists  of  the  several 
tVibes  of  plants  suitable  for  gardens  of  limited  dimensions 
were  likewise  to  have  been  inserted.  But  it  was  soon  found 
that  the  first  of  these  would  have  materially  increased  the 
price  without  adding  greatly  to  the  efficiency  of  the  book, 
while  the  catalogues  in  question  would  also  have  seriously 
enlarged  its  bulk.  Mere  Hsts  of  plants,  too,  are  of  such  com- 
mon occurrence  in  other  publications,  that  they  do  not  seem 
to  be  wanted;  and  general  designs  for  places,  or  sketches  of 


Preface  xi 

particular  objects,  are  seldom  capable  of  being  applied,  with- 
out much  modification,  to  individual  gardens. 

With  regard  to  the  style  and  manner  of  the  work,  the 
author  confesses  some  little  fear  lest  it  should  be  deemed  too 
elaborate  or  dogmatical.  The  first  of  these  faults,  if  it  have 
any  palpable  existence,  has  originated  in  the  wish  to  render 
the  matter  as  expressive,  as  dense,  and  as  serviceable  as 
possible.  It  is  mainly  due  to  the  aim  at  obtaining  brevity 
and  force,  without  omitting  anything.  And  on  so  compre- 
hensive a  theme  it  is  hardly  surprising  that  the  matter  should 
have  accumulated  to  an  extent  by  no  means  originally  con- 
templated, so  that  the  object  indicated  by  the  title  may  even 
seem  to  be  unduly  departed  from.  This  will,  however,  be 
more  than  justified  by  the  fiact  that  there  are  yet  a  great 
many  things,  not  without  interest  or  importance,  unavoidably 
omitted. 

For  the  second  defect,  which  appears  more  manifest  and 
serious,  a  similar  excuse  may  in  part  be  alleged,  with  the 
additional  plea  that  practical  information  can  hardly  be  made 
altogether  suggestive,  and  must,  to  some  extent,  become  dog- 
matical, unless  it  be  conveyed  in  a  very  circuitous  form.  At 
any  rate,  it  is  hoped  that  this  will  be  considered  simply  as  a 
fault  of  manner,  and  not  as  indicating  a  positive  or  presump- 
tuous disposition,  which  is  utterly  foreign  to  the  author's 
purpose. 

With  these  frank  admissions  he  now  submits  his  httle 
volume  to  the  test  of  public  opinion,  assured  that,  whatever 
may  be  its  fate,  it  will  be  judged  by  the  substance  of  what 
it  contains,  and  not  by  the  mere  accidents  of  manner  and 
composition. 

EDWARD   KEMP. 

Birkenhead  Park,  Liverpool. 


PREFACE   TO   THE    AMERICAN  EDITION 


When  it  was  first  proposed  that  I  undertake  the  American 
revision  of  this  work  I  accepted  the  opportunity  with  high 
anticipations.  Kemp's  Landscape  Gardening  was  one  of  the 
first  books  on  the  subject  I  had  ever  read,  and  one  of  the 
most  delightful.  I  had  used  it  for  years  as  a  reference  book 
in  my  classes.  I  expected  that  the  work  of  revision  would  be 
easy  and  entertaining. 

So  far  as  the  simplicity  of  the  task  was  concerned  T  was 
soon  better  informed.  Though  I  have  not  ceased  to  enjoy 
the  work,  I  have  found  it  a  much  greater  task  than  I  had 
supposed.  On  hundreds  of  pages  it  has  been  almost  impos- 
sible to  separate  the  gist  of  good  advice  from  the  detail  of 
old  English  practice  in  which  it  was  imbedded.  Oftener  than 
I  had  expected  I  found  myself  in  disagreement  with  the 
recommendations  of  the  author.  In  such  cases  it  became 
very  difficult  to  decide  whether  the  author's  methods  had 
been  outgrown  in  the  general  improvement  of  landscape 
gardening  since  his  day,  whether  his  methods  were  simply 
unfashionable  at  this  moment  in  America,  or  whether  it  was 
merely  a  difference  of  opinion  between  author  and  reviser. 
In  cases  of  the  first  kind  I  have  not  hesitated  to  eliminate 
outgrown  methods  and  to  substitute  the  rules  of  more  modern 
practice.  In  those  of  the  second  kind,  where  merely  a  chang- 
ing fashion  is  involved,  I  have  usually  retained  the  author's 
views,  adding  some  note  of  present  American  ideas.  In  cases 
of  the  third  kind,  where  there  appeared  to  be  only  a  difference 
of  opinion,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  I  have  allowed 


Preface 


Xlll 


the  author's  text  to  stand  intact,  reserving  the  expression  of 
my  own  views  for  some  more  appropriate  opportunity. 

The  reader  will  readily  understand,  therefore,  that  where 
the  personal  pronoun,  first  person,  occurs  in  the  text  it  always 
means  Edward  Kemp. 

The  work  of  Kemp  will  be  better  understood  and  more 
enjoyed  if  it  is  studied  in  connection  with  the  work  of  his 
contemporaries,  particularly  Repton,  Milner,  Loudon  and 
Downing;  for  America,  the  comparison  with  Do^/ning  is 
most  natural  and  most  instructive.  There  is,  of  course,  no 
space  in  this  book  for  a  critical  comparison  of  these  various 
workers,  but  a  slight  introduction  to  such  a  study  will  be 
found  in  the  biographical  note  on  Kemp  included  herewith. 
There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that,  with  the  remarkable 
popularization  and  no  less  remarkable  liberalization  of  land- 
scape art  now  going  on  in  America,  there  will  be  more  interest 
than  ever  before  in  the  work  of  those  great  men  who  estab- 
lished the  English  (and  therefore  the  American)  style  of  land- 
scape gardening. 

F.  A.  WAUGH. 

Massachusetts  Agricultural  College, 
January,  1911. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   NOTE 


Edward  Kemp  was  born  at  Streatham,  Surrey,  England, 
September  25,  181 7,  and  died  at  Birkenhead,  Liverpool, 
England,  March  2,  1 891,  in  his  seventy- fourth  year.  Even 
at  this  early  date,  less  than  twenty  years  since  his  death, 
there  are  very  few  details  of  his  life  and  work  to  be  learned. 

His  technical  training  was  gained  in  the  gardens  of  the 
Royal  Horticultural  Society  at  Chiswick,  under  Dr.  Lindley, 
and  subsequently  in  private  work  under  Sir  Joseph  Paxton. 
In  September,  1843,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  he  was  made 
superintendent  of  Birkenhead  Park,  Liverpool,  and  the 
remainder  of  his  life  was  closely  connected  with  that  particu- 
lar enterprise.  He  designed  a  number  of  private  places, 
several  of  which  are  illustrated  and  described  in  the  various 
editions  of  his  books. 

His  debut  as  a  writer  came  in  1850,  when  he  put  out  a 
small  volume  under  the  title  "How  to  Lay  out  a  Small 
Garden,"  which  was  really  the  germ  of  the  present  book. 
A  second  edition,  illustrated  and  much  enlarged,  was  issued 
in  1858.  A  third  and  yet  larger  edition  appeared  in  1864. 
The  chronological  list  of  his  principal  writings  is  as  follows: 

1850.  "How  to  Lay  out  a  Small  Garden";  intended  as  a 
guide  to  amateurs  in  choosing,  forming  or  improving  a  place, 
with  reference  to  both  design  and  execution.  London,  Brad- 
bury &  Evans.     212  pp.,  8vo. 

1850.  Editor,  "The  Handbook  of  Gardening,"  tenth 
edition. 


Biographical  Note 


1 85 1.  "Parks,  Gardens,  etc.,  of  London  and  its  Suburbs." 
London.     i2mo. 

1858.  "How  to  Lay  out  a  Small  Garden,"  2d  ed.,  en- 
larged and  illustrated.     London.     i2mo.,  about  400  pp. 

1858.  Same.  First  American  edition,  Wiley  &  Halstead. 
New  York.     403  pp.,  i2mo. 

1864.  Same.  Third  Edition  (English)  again  revised  and 
enlarged.     London,  Bradbury  &  Evans.     428  pp.,  8vo. 

1880.  Same,  Second  American  Edition,  John  Wiley  & 
Sons,  New  York.     403  pp.     i2mo. 

At  his  death  Mr.  Kemp  was  buried  in  Flaybrick  Hill  Ceme- 
tery, Birkenhead,  of  which  he  had  been  the  designer.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  Burial  Board  for  the  Parish  of  Liverpool  held 
at  their  offices,  Anfield  Park  Cemetery,  on  Thursday  the  2d 
of  April,  1 89 1,  it  was  unanimously 

"Resolved,  That  the  Board  has  heard  with  much  regret 
of  the  recent  death  of  Edward  Kemp,  Esq.,  the  eminent 
Landscape  Gardener  and  Garden  Architect  to  whose  genius 
Liverpool  and  its  Burial  Board  are  indebted  for  the  Anfield 
Park  Cemetery.  Mr.  Kemp  furnished  the  Design,  also  zeal- 
ously and  faithfully  attended  to  the  laying  out  and  embel- 
lishment of  the  Grounds. 

"  Through  his  strict  integrity  and  dignified  conduct  the 
Burial  Board  soon  after  its  origin  escaped  many  evils,  and, 
prompted  by  his  solicitude  for  the  future  good  manage- 
ment, and  reputation  of  the  Cemetery  (at  the  request  of  the 
Board  and  in  its  interest)  he  induced  his  Draughtsman, 
Assistant  and  Friend,  Mr.  Wm.  Wortley  to  undertake  the 
Superintendence  of  the  Estate,  which  he  has  so  ably  man- 
aged for  the  period  of  twenty-eight  years. 

"  Further,  that  this  Resolution  be  recorded  upon  the 
Minutes  as  a  tribute  of  high  respect  to  the  memory  of  the 
departed,  and   that   this  expression  of  the  Board's  sincere 


Biographical  Note  xvii 

regret  and  condolence  be  conveyed  to  the  Relatives  of  the 
Late  Mr.  Kemp." 

Extracted  from  the  Proceedings, 

ELEAZOR  ROBERTS, 

Clerk  to  the  Burial  Board. 

A  memorial  card  circulated  at  the  time  of  his  death  had, 
according  to  the  then  prevailing  fashion,  a  tribute  in  verse, 
which  read: 

"  He  made  the  Landscape  meet  the  eye 
With  Beauty:  and  turned  the  barren  wastes 
To  noble  Parks  and  Gardens  of  the  Lord. 
Thus  Nature's  rugged  face 
By  Art  he  wreathed  with  winsome  smiles 
That  woo'd  the  Children  of  the  City,  and  the  Sons 
Of  grimy  toil  and  gave  delight  to  all." 

J.  C.  P. 

Although  I  have  employed  two  expert  English  antiquarians 
for  the  search,  and  though  I  have  myself  visited  the  scene  of 
his  principal  labors  for  the  same  purpose,  it  has  not  been 
possible  to  add  any  important  facts  to  this  meager  biography 
of  an  able  and  useful  man.  His  most  enduring  memorial  will 
certainly  be  his  book  on  "Landscape  Gardening;  or  How  to 
Lay  out  a  Garden." 

F.  A.  WAUGH. 


LIST  OF   PLATES 


Springtime  in  the  Garden Frontispiece 

Plate  Op.  Page 

I.  Stone  Steps  with  Plantings lo 

II.  Shores  of  the  Charles  River 26 

III.  On  the  Biltmore  Estate,  North  Carolina 42 

IV.  Lawn  Vista  from  House  Veranda 58 

V.  Lawn  Vista  and  Groupings '  74 

VI.  Old-fashioned  Garden 90 

VTI.  Rustic  Bridge  in  Rock  Creek  Park 106 

VIII.  Wistarias  and  Subtropical  Plants 122 

IX.   Entrance  and  Drive,  Biltmore  Estate 138 

X.  Plantings  along  a  Driveway 154 

XI.  A  Pleasant  Winter  Walk 170 

XII.  Excellent  Water  Surface    with    Background  and 

Sky  Line 186 

XIII.  Vista  across  a  Pond 202 

X^V^  Effective  Grouping  of  Trees 218 

XV.  Wide  Ro.ad  with  Border  and   Screen 234 

XVI.  Entrance  to  a  Ten-acre  Private  Place 250 

XVTI.  Effective  Water  Surface  and  Grouping 258 

XVni.  Pleasant  Naturalistic  Lawn  on  a  Georgia  Estate  ...  266 
XIX.  Good  Water  Surface,  Good  Borders,  Good  Back- 
ground, Good  Sky  Line 274 

XX.  In  the  Wild  Garden 282 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


Figure  Page 

1.  Improper  Grade  for  a  Lawn i6 

2.  Convex-Concave  Grade  for  a  Lawn i6 

3.  Plan  of  a  House  with  Reference  to  the  Grounds 19 

4.  Arrangement  of  an  American  House 22 

5.  OutHne  Plan  of  a  Place 24 

6.  Tree  Belt  —  Monotonous 36 

7.  Same  as  Fig.  6  —  Improved 36 

8.  Monotonous  Belt  on  Rolling  Land 37 

9.  Improvement  of  Fig.  8 37 

10.  Method  of  Grading  for  Walks 57 

11.  Practical  Perspective 60 

12.  Vista  Showing  Distant  Views 62 

13.  Treatment  of  Flat  Foreground 64 

14.  Treatment  of  Foreground  with  Water  View 66 

15.  Treatment  of  Curved  Walk 70 

16.  Grouping  Shrubs  along  a  Walk 71 

17.  Typical  Group 71 

18.  Elevation  of  Group 73 

19.  Group  on  High  Land 74 

20.  Plan  of  Proper  Grouping 75 

21.  Method  of  Diversifying  Vieivs  from  Residence 76 

22.  Vistas  with  Cross- Views 79 

23.  Treatment  of  Boundary 81 

24.  Location  of  Group  on  a  Knoll 82 

25.  Treatment  of  Grades 83 

26.  Branching  of  Straight  Walk no 

27.  Various  Treatments  of  F^ormal  Walks 1 13 

28.  Various  Forms  of  Flower  Beds 116 

29.  Other  Forms  of  Flower  Beds 118 

30.  Terrace  Treatment  of  Rising  Ground 121 

31.  Grades  about  a  House 122 

32.  A  Type  of  the  Picturesque 125 

33.  Oblique  Turn-in  from  Public  Road 133 

34.  Turn-in  at  Right  Angles 134 

35.  Carriage  Turn  for  Small  Grounds 138 

36.  Carriage  Turn  with  Embellishment 139 

37.  Branching  of  a  Walk 141 

38.  Grading  to  a  Walk 142 

39.  Grading  to  a  Walk 143 

40.  Sunken  Wall  or  Fence 144 

zxi 


xxii  Illustrations 


Figure  Page 

41.  Sloping  Invisible  Iron  Fence 144 

42.  Common  Wire  Fence  Sunken 145 

43.  Boundary  Wall  with  Planting 146 

44.  Rustic  Fence 148 

45.  Simple  Protector  for  Tree 148 

46.  Tree  Protected  by  Undergrowth 149 

47.  Proper  Form  for  Border  Planting 151 

48.  Two  Groups  which  look  Hke  One 153 

49.  A  Mixed  Group 154 

50.  A  Good  Picturesque  Grouping 154 

51.  How  to  Plant  a  Hill 155 

52.  Terrace  Disguised  by  Plantings 169 

53.  Plan  of  an  Architectural  Garden 171 

54.  How  to  Manage  a  Hedge ; .  .  189 

55.  Plan  of  a  Home  Park 201 

56.  Design  of  Residence  Grounds 205 

57.  A  Secluded  Flower  Garden 207 

58.  Design  for  a  Rose  Garden 215 

59.  The  Arrangement  of  a  Collection 218 

60.  Design  for  a  Bowling  Green 221 

61.  Plan  of  an  Artificial  Pond 227 

62.  Forming  the  Bank  of  a  Lake 229 

63.  Lake  Shore  Planting 230 

64.  Rustic  Bridge  on  Simple  Lines 231 

65.  Design  of  a  Summer  House ' 236 

66.  Gate  Lodge  and  Entrance 247 

67.  Simple  Lodge  and  Entrance 249 

68.  Imposing  Recessed  Entrance 250 

69.  An  Unusual  Type  of  Entrance 251 

70.  Plan  of  a  Seaside  Garden _ .  .  . 254 

71.  Section  through  Garden  Shown  in  Fig.  70 255 

72.  Cross  Section  of  Drain 260 

73.  Cross  Section  of  Drain 260 

74.  Excavation  for  Walk 262 

75.  Different  Forms  of  Walks 267 

76  and  77.   Setting  a  Tree  to  Stay 281 

78.   Staking  a  Tree 282 

7Q.    Staking  a  Large  Tree 282 


LANDSCAPE  GARDENING 


CHAPTER  I 

The  Choice  of  a  Place 

From  that  beautiful  variety  of  taste  which  brings  the  com- 
monest persons  into  association  with  the  more  cultivated,  and 
secures  for  objects  that  many  would  regard  as  inferior  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  approbation  and  patronage,  scarcely  any  two 
individuals  will  be  disposed  to  select,  where  there  is  a  full 
latitude  of  choice  and  a  thorough  knowledge  of  every  peculi- 
arity, precisely  the  same  spot  for  a  residence.  What  would 
perfectly  satisfy  one  might  be  displeasing  to  another.  The 
conditions  that  some  would  even  detest  others  might  actually 
covet.  And  this  it  is,  united  to  the  fact  that  few  can  obtain 
exactly  all  they  desire,  and  that  the  alternative  must  gener- 
ally lie  between  situations  which  comprise  a  greater  or  less 
proportion  of  the  required  capabilities,  that  distributes  the 
population  of  our  towns  pretty  equally  over  the  suburbs,  and 
brings  districts  into  use  that  would  otherwise  remain  entirely 
waste  or  be  devoted  only  to  the  farmer  or  the  grazier. 

Railways,  however,  with  their  annual  contracts  for  con- 
veyance, and  the  rapidity,  ease,  and  certainty  of  transit,  are 
now  gradually  bringing  other  parts  of  the  country  within  the 
range  of  selection,  and  enabling  the  town  merchant  or  man  of 
business  to  locate  himself  from  ten  to  twenty,  or  even  forty 
or  fifty  miles  from  the  town,  and  thus  get  the  benefit  of  coun- 
try air  and  rural  pleasures.  And  from  the  greater  abundance 
I 

D.  H.  HILL  LIBRARY 
North  Carolina  State  Col.lege 


Landscape  Gardening 


and  cheapness  of  land  in  such  districts  a  wider  field  of  choice 
is  afiforded,  and  more  scope  for  the  exercise  of  judgment  and 
taste. 

Although,  therefore,  every  person  will  necessarily  have  his 
own  peculiar  inclinations,  and  the  opportunities  of  gratifying 
a  refined  feeling  may  be  very  limited,  it  is  right  that  a  book 
like  the  present,  which  professes  merely  to  be  suggestive, 
should  point  out  those  characteristics  most  generally  desirable 
in  a  place,  and  which  might  not  be  thought  of,  or  would  pos- 
sibly be  but  lightly  regarded,  if  not  thus  specifically  presented, 
leaving  every  one  to  the  exercise  of  his  individual  wishes. 

I.  Accessibility.  —  The  question  which  first  arises  in  the 
mind  of  an  inquirer  after  a  site  for  a  residence  is  determined 
is,  how  it  will  be  accessible.  There  may  be  different  opinions 
as  to  the  kind  of  road  preferable  for  getting  at  a  dwelling- 
place,  but  an  actual  necessity  exists  that  there  should  be 
some  convenient  mode  of  access.  Many  would  desire  to  fix 
themselves  near  a  well-frequented  road,  while  some  would 
rather  be  situated  on  the  side  of  a  more  retired  and  private 
thoroughfare.  It  will  be  obvious  however,  that  the  road  by 
which  a  place  is  approached  should  be  a  sound  one,  likely 
to  be  kept  in  good  repair  and  capable  of  being  used  at  all 
times.  A  bad  road  that  has  to  be  frequently  traveled,  is  not 
merely  an  inconvenience  and  a  nuisance,  but  gives  a  most 
unfavorable  impression  of  a  place  to  visitors;  and  a  private 
road,  that  is  closed  at  night,  may  occasion  a  good  deal  of 
trouble  and  discomfort. 

To  settle  in  a  place  to  which  there  is  no  good  road  already 
formed,  or  where  one  cannot  be  built,  will  seldom  be  other- 
wise than  productive  of  misery.  A  mere  expectation  that  a 
road  will  be  made  should  never  be  held  sufficient,  for  a  house 
may  stand  in  a  state  of  isolation  several  years,  cut  off,  as  it 
were,  from  all  proper  connection  with  the  world,  if  the  road 


The  Choice  of  a  Place 


to  it  or  past  it  be  not  already  in  existence  or  certain  to  be 
opened. 

It  will  be  well  to  calculate,  further,  the  length  of  road  or 
drive  which  will  have  to  be  made  and  kept  in  order  by  the 
owner  or  occupant  of  a  place.  Road-making  is  an  expensive 
process  in  most  districts,  and  the  due  preservation  of  roads  is 
always  troublesome.  While,  therefore,  the  having  to  provide 
a  considerable  length  of  private  drive  in  order  to  get  at  a 
place  will  be  an  advantage  in  the  way  of  conferring  more 
privacy  and  retirement,  it  must  be  looked  upon  as  a  source 
of  increased  outlay  and  additional  subsequent  labor. 

Where  there  is  any  possibility  of  obtaining  such  a  piece  of 
land,  it  is  most  important  that  it  should  have  a  public  road 
along  one  of  its  sides  only,  and  that  this  road  should  be  on  the 
north,  north-east,  or  north-west  boundary.  Access  will  thus 
be  given  to  the  house  at  the  point  which  is  of  least  conse- 
quence in  regard  to  views,  and  the  warmer  and  better  sides 
can  be  kept  open  and  private.  Entrance  from  any  other 
point  would  always  more  or  less  interfere  with  the  lawn 
and  the  more  ornamental  parts  of  the  garden,  besides  laying 
bare  some  of  the  best  windows  of  the  house  or  involving  the 
necessity  of  giving  these  an  inferior  aspect.  This  is  assum- 
ing, however,  that  the  site  be  chosen  with  reference  to  a 
proper  aspect  and  views  for  the  house. 

Comparative  nearness  to  a  railway  station  will,  even  where 
a  vehicle  is  kept,  be  a  decided  acquisition ;  for  there  are"  cer- 
tain to  be  times  when  either  the  owner  or  his  friends  will 
want  to  make  use  of  these  conveniences.  In  wet  weather, 
especially,  it  will  be  unpleasant  to  have  to  walk  far  before 
reaching  some  kind  of  conveyance. 

Proximity  to  some  seat  of  business,  where  at  least  the  neces- 
saries of  Ufe  can  be  readily  procured,  will  also  be  an  advantage. 
To  have  to  send  a  great  distance  for  articles  of  food  when 


Landscape  Gardening 


there  may  be  an  unexpected  demand  for  them,  will  generally 
be  a  heavy  tax  upon  patience  and  time.  The  situation  ought 
likewise  to  be  within  reach,  by  an  easy  and  pleasant  walk, 
of  some  suitable  place  of  worship. 

It  should  be  recollected  that  roads  on  which  there  is  much 
traffic  bring  a  large  amount  of  dust  at  certain  seasons,  while 
they  render  a  house  and  garden  more  exposed  to  observation 
from  the  foot-passengers  or  the  travelers  on  public  vehicles. 
A  place  on  a  small  and  less  frequented  road,  at  a  little  dis- 
tance from  a  great  highway,  will  therefore  be  more  comfort- 
able and  more  secluded  than  one  which  lies  by  the  side  of  a 
turnpike  road.  And  this  view  of  the  case  will  further  serve 
to  show  the  undesirableness  of  having  a  property  entirely 
surrounded  by  roads.  Arable  lands,  fields,  open  country,  or 
other  gardens  and  private  estates,  will  be  the  best  possible 
accompaniments  on  all  the  southerly  sides  of  a  place. 

Anything  in  the  way  of  a  public  path  crossing  a  property, 
and  severing  it  into  two  parts,  or  a  public  road  passing  across 
a  plot  in  the  same  manner,  would  seriously  prejudice  its 
value.  When  such  things  are  carried  through  an  estate  with- 
out being  fenced  off,  they  lay  bare  certain  portions  of  it  to 
the  public  eye,  and,  what  is  worse,  subject  it  to  continual 
trespass.  And  to  fence  off  a  path  or  road  of  this  description 
would  greatly  mutilate  a  place,  and  give  it  a  small  and  con- 
fined appearance.  Nor  is  it  at  all  easy  to  get  established 
pathways  diverted,  unless  a  more  direct  route  can  be  pre- 
pared for  them.  The  nuisance  of  having  a  place  thus  open 
to  the  use  of  all,  in  populous  districts,  can  hardly  be  exag- 
gerated. 

In  this,  as  in  a  variety  of  similar  cases,  however,  circum- 
stances that  would  be  inconvenient  and  objectionable  to  most 
persons  might  be  altogether  unproductive  of  annoyance  to 
others;  for  no  rule  of  Hfe  is  more  true  or  of  more  universal 


The   Choice  of  a   Plac( 


application  than  that  things  are  not  so  much  discomforting 
or  pleasurable  in  themselves,  but  are  just  what  they  are  con- 
sidered to  be.  So  that  what  would  be  intolerable  to  many- 
might  become  perfectly  inoffensive  to  those  who  were  deter- 
mined to  regard  it  favorably. 

2.  Neighborhood  Environment.  —  Besides  the  advantage 
of  having  the  property  on  the  best  boundaries  of  a  place 
congenially  treated,  and  appropriated  to  agricultural  or  gar- 
den purposes,  or  left  to  the  rudeness  and  picturesqueness  of 
nature,  it  is  of  consequence  that  the  whole  of  the  surrounding 
property  be  of  a  similar  character,  and  that  it  be  not  covered 
with  cottage  tenements,  or  crowded  with  any  kind  of  inferior 
houses,  or  the  atmosphere  darkened  by  the  smoke  and  pol- 
luted by  the  gases  from  large  manufactories.  To  live  amidst 
fields  and  gardens  and  cultivated  or  unassisted  nature,  or 
to  have  only  the  vicinity  of  kindred  or  superior  places,  is  a 
luxury  well  worth  the  sacrifice  of  some  trifling  conveniences 
and  the  traveling  a  mile  or  two  further  from  a  town.  There 
is  so  much  calculated  to  offend  and  to  annoy  in  a  closely 
peopled  neighborhood,  especially  if  it  be  crowded  with  small 
cottages,  that  the  majority  of  persons  will  gladly  shun  it. 

Not  only,  however,  will  it  be  well  to  look  closely  into  the 
character  of  the  surrounding  district,  and  ascertain  how  it  is 
actually  built  upon  or  appropriated,  and  by  what  class  of 
persons  it  is  populated,  but  the  probable  uses  of  the  neigh- 
borhood should  likewise  be  considered.  A  particular  local- 
ity may  at  the  time  of  choosing  it  appear  highly  rural,  and 
have  every  desirable  characteristic,  whereas  in  a  few  years 
it  may  become  densely  covered  with  small  houses  or  obnox- 
ious manufactories,  be  cut  up  into  narrow  roads,  and  other- 
wise be  completely  spoiled  as  a  place  for  residence.  For  all 
these  things,  then,  due  calculation  must  be  made;  and  though 
no  human  foresight  can  reach  anything  like  certainty  in  such 


Landscape   Gardening 


a  matter,  especially  considering  the  rapid  transitions  which 
property  is  now  frequently  undergoing,  diligent  investigation 
will  commonly  prove  a  tolerably  safe  guide. 

Those  localities  unquestionably  offer  the  greatest  security 
in  regard  to  the  preservation  of  a  respectable  and  partially 
rural  character  wherein  large  tracts  are  in  the  hands  of  one 
or  two  proprietors  who  bind  lessees  or  purchasers  to  build 
only  a  certain  number  and  class  of  houses  on  the  land  and 
themselves  agree  to  lay  it  out  strictly  according  to  a  definite 
plan.  Here  there  is  something  approaching  to  absolute  cer- 
tainty, and  a  person  may  settle  on  a  given  spot  with  the  full 
knowledge  of  what  alone  can  be  done  by  all  his  neighbors, 
and  the  actual  pecuniary  and  social  status  of  those  neighbors. 

Where  several  plots  of  land  overlook  fine  natural  scenery, 
as  on  the  shores  of  large  rivers,  lakes;  or  the  sea,  that  which 
is  nearest  the  object  itself  will  generally  be  the  most  eligible, 
if  other  things  are  about  equal.  For  the  view  over  a  natural 
landscape  that  is  incapable  of  alteration,  and  with  no  inter- 
vening space  that  can  ever  be  used  by  another  party,  becomes 
perfectly  safe  from  interruption  at  any  future  period,  and 
may  be  treated  much  more  liberally  and  with  reference  solely 
to  individual  wants  and  tastes.  Every  position  farther  from 
the  scenery  most  worth  preserving,  however  unencumbered 
the  view  from  it  may  be,  will  be  liable  to  have  that  view 
more  or  less  intercepted  by  the  uses  to  which  the  interposing 
property  may  be  put,  unless  the  elevation  be  very  consider- 
able and  the  slope  of  the  ground  rapid  and  almost  precipitous. 

If,  again,  land  on  both  sides  of  a  public  road  commands 
the  same  beautiful  scenery,  that  which  is  on  the  side  nearest 
the  scenery  itself  will  be  greatly  superior  as  the  site  for  a 
house  and  garden;  because,  on  the  opposite  plot,  a  partial 
plantation  will  have  to  be  made  to  screen  the  place  from  the 
road,  and  this  will,  to  some  extent,  block  out  the  view,  while 


The   Choice  of  a  Place 


the  owner  will  be  thoroughly  dependent,  in  respect  to  land- 
scape, on  what  may  be  done  by  his  opposite  neighbor  in  the 
way  of  both  planting  and  building.  It  will  be  most  unhkely 
—  almost  impossible  —  that  some  of  this  latter  should 
not  entirely  obstruct  every  open  sight  into  the  country 
beyond. 

3.  Historical  Considerations.  —  What  has  formerly  been 
done  upon  a  place  may  be  by  no  means  an  insignificant,  and 
will  certainly  be  an  interesting,  question.  The  part  which  it 
plays  in  local  histories  or  legends,  and  the  associations  which 
previous  ownership  or  occupation  or  uses  may  fasten  upon 
it,  are  all  worthy  of  scrutiny,  and  may  help  either  to  endear 
and  enliven  a  spot  or  to  clothe  it  with  gloomy  and  repulsive 
features. 

To  be  able  to  trace  back  the  possession  of  a  property  by 
one  or  more  families  through  a  long  series  of  years  will  be 
almost  as  pleasing  to  some  minds  as  having  a  lengthened  and 
well-ascertained  personal  pedigree;  and  though  many  would 
not  care  to  know  who  have  been  the  former  owners  and  for 
how  long  a  period  the  history  can  be  made  out,  to  others 
such  a  record  will  be  full  of  attraction.  The  very  trees  and 
shrubs,  if  any  old  ones  exist,  will  be  all  the  more  pregnant 
with  interest  when  it  is  authentically  made  out  by  whom  and 
when  they  were  planted. 

In  reviving  ancient  recollections  and  usages,  or  searching 
after  mementos  of  former  times,  a  variety  of  hints  may  be 
gleaned  as  to  the  treatment  of  a  place,  or  objects  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  composition  of  its  landscape,  which  will  be 
exceedingly  remunerative.  A  valuable  spring  or  well  may  be 
laid  bare;  a  charming  ruin  may  be  contrived  from  existing 
fragments;  the  first  step  in  a  train  of  interesting  antiquarian 
researches  may  be  stumbled  on;  family  histories,  which  are 
often  the  key  to  greater  memorials,  may  be  brought  to  light; 


Landscape  Gardening 


and,  what  is  not  entirely  unimportant,  an  excellent  and  char- 
acteristic name  for  the  property  may  be  suggested:  for,  in 
the  prevailing  fashion  for  distinguishing  every  place,  however 
small,  with  a  separate  title,  those  are  usually  happiest  who 
have  some  historical  or  local  circumstance  on  which  to  found 
it.  The  old  and  common  names  of  fields  are  often  highly 
characteristic,  and,  when  sufficiently  descriptive  or  eupho- 
nious, there  is  great  propriety  in  adopting  the  ancient  title 
of  any  part  of  a  property  intended  for  a  residence,  but  more 
particularly  of  the  field  on  which  the  house  is  to  be  built  or 
the  garden  founded. 

4.  Altitude.  —  The  relative  elevation  of  the  district,  or  of 
the  particular  site  selected  in  it,  will  have  a  great  influence 
on  the  healthiness,  comfort,  and  scenery  of  a  place.  A  tract 
that  is  low  and  flat  is  always  damper,  and  consequently 
colder.  I  have  often  noticed  dips  in  a  road  along  which  I 
have  been  accustomed  to  travel  in  winter  evenings,  where, 
by  the  much  greater  coldness  of  the  atmosphere  in  such  lower 
parts  (even  though  no  water  existed),  I  could  distinguish  the 
arrival  at  them  with  closed  eyes;  and  where  rivers  or  streams 
or  other  pieces  of  water  exist  in  hollows,  their  dampness  and 
coldness  are  of  course  increased.  Fogs  are  always  more  prev- 
alent in  valleys  or  low  level  tracts,  and  it  is  a  well-ascer- 
tained fact  that  spring  frosts  are  felt  much  later,  and  autumn 
frosts  earlier,  in  lowland  districts  and  near  the  course  of 
streams  than  on  the  sides  or  summits  of  hills. 

A  rather  elevated  or  hilly  tract,  though  more  exposed  to 
winds  than  a  flatter  locality,  will,  if  it  have  a  good  aspect 
and  slope  in  the  right  direction,  be  drier  and  warmer  in  winter 
and  command  much  finer  views  of  the  country.  It  will  be 
more  likely  to  be  free  from  all  kinds  of  nuisances,  to  be  out 
of  the  way  of  cottage  property,  and  to  escape  from  the  gaze 
of  travelers  along  contiguous  roads.     Where  a  house  and 


The  Choice  of  a  Place 


garden  are  lower  than  the  outside  road,  it  is  extremely  diffi- 
cult to  shut  them  in  effectually.  From  a  gentle  eminence, 
too,  it  will  be  easy  to  conceal  all  the  bad  features  of  the 
adjoining  property  and  to  make  use  of  all  the  better  objects 
in  enhancing  the  beauty  and  variety  of  a  scene. 

Any  extravagant  height,  however,  above  the  rest  o.f  the 
country  will  produce  an  amount  of  exposure,  both  for  the 
house  and  the  garden,  which  will  destroy  some  of  the  enjoy- 
ment derivable  from  a  habitation  and  prevent  the  plants  in 
a  garden  from  flourishing  luxuriantly.  It  would,  moreover, 
occasion  some  inconvenience  in  regard  to  the  approach.  To 
have  constantly  to  toil  up  a  steep  ascent  before  a  place  can  be 
reached  will  neither  be  agreeable  to  man  nor  horse,  and  will 
contribute  somewhat  to  lengthen  the  journey.  A  very  mod- 
erate elevation  is  therefore  best,  and  will  be  specially  appro- 
priate where  any  member  of  the  family  has  delicate  health 
and  cannot  endure  much  in  the  way  of  bracing  winds. 

5.  Soil.  —  Of  almost  greater  moment  than  the  altitude  of 
a  district  is  the  character  of  the  soil,  and  this,  rather  as  it 
affects  the  health  and  the  comfort  than  with  reference  to  its 
influence  on  garden  produce  and  operations,  although  the 
latter  is  far  from  being  a  matter  of  indifference.  Scarcely 
anything  will  grow  well  on  thoroughly  stiff  land,  and  it  is 
very  unpleasant  and  laborious  to  work  it,  besides  requiring 
more  attention  as  to  the  choice  of  weather  for  going  upon  it 
than  can  usually  be  afforded. 

Nothing  is'  more  unsatisfactory  than  to  have  a  house  and 
garden  on  a  clay  soil.  No  amount  of  draining  will  convert 
it  into  an  agreeable  and  open  state.  And  whatever  ingre- 
dients may  be  added,  or  amelioration  by  working  it  may  be 
attempted,  it  will  still  remain  more  or  less  cold  and  sticky, 
and  in  some  degree  unfit  for  developing  vegetable  life  per- 
fectly.    It  will  be  bad  to  keep  clean,  and  to  dig,  and  to  crop, 


lo  Landscape  Gardening 


and  to  walk  upon.  It  will  be  cold  and  greasy  in  wet  weather, 
and  cake  together  and  crack  during  drought.  Few  vegetable 
crops  will  succeed  in  it,  and  a  still  smaller  number  of  flowers. 
Even  grass  grown  upon  it  will  generally  be  either  very  wet  or 
very  dry;  and  the  atmosphere  above  it  will  be  correspond- 
ently.  cold  and  moist  throughout  the  winter.  Unless  the 
utmost  care  be  used  to  prevent  any  part  of  a  building  from 
coming  into  contact  with  it,  a  considerable  dampness  will 
be  communicated  from  it  to  the  walls,  and  a  house  will  thus 
be  made  exceedingly  miserable. 

Land  of  a  light  and  open  texture  is,  on  the  contrary,  con- 
ducive to  both  health  and  enjoyment  and  renders  a  house 
comfortable  and  a  garden  delightful  at  all  times.  It  never 
becomes  too  wet;  it  is  readily  worked  in  almost  any  weather; 
it  makes  a  lawn  pleasant  to  walk  upon  and  encourages  the 
growth  of  the  finer  grasses;  it  is  the  best  of  soil  for  flowers, 
and,  with  due  enrichment,  for  vegetables  and  fruit  trees;  and, 
in  short,  for  any  purpose  it  will  be  found  either  perfectly 
suitable  or  capable  of  quickly  being  made  so. 

Nor  is  the  surface  soil  alone  of  consequence,  for  the  sub- 
stratum will  continually  more  or  less  affect  the  upper  crust. 
A  cold  and  clayey  foundation  soil,  or  a  close  retentive  layer 
of  gravel,  will  act  upon  the  roots  of  all  the  larger  growing 
plants,  and  tend  to  produce  feebleness  and  disease  after  they 
have  once  reached  it.  A  rocky,  chalky,  or  sandy  bottom 
will  be  much  the  driest,  and  altogether  the  most  calculated 
to  promote  human  enjoyment  and  vegetable  health. 

It  follows,  therefore,  that  a  light  and  porous  (though  not  a 
very  sandy  or  friable  or  shallow)  soil,  on  a  dry  and  open, 
or  rocky  foundation,  will  be  the  best  to  build  upon,,  so  as 
to  secure  dryness  and  warmth  in  a  house,  and  tbe  fittest 
to  make  a  garden  pleasurable  and  to  supply  the  conditions 
most  needed  by  the  bulk  of  vegetables,  flowers,  and  fruits. 


The  Choice  of  a  Place  1 1 

And  it  will,  in  point  of  economy,  do  away  with  some,  at  least, 
of  the  necessity  for  artificial  drainage. 

Lest  this  conclusion,  however,  should  be  unduly  appropri- 
ated, it  may  be  well  to  state  that  it  applies  only  to  garden 
ground  and  to  the  site  of  a  residence;  and  that,  even  for  the 
former,  any  extreme  of  lightness  or  sandiness  will  be  apt  to 
occasion  withered  grass  in  the  summer  and  the  necessity  for 
increased  manuring  in  the  kitchen  garden.  For  all  farming 
purposes  a  moderately  heavy  land  is  decidedly  preferable, 
as,  if  properly  drained  and  carefully  worked,  it  will  yield  far 
more  abundant  crops  at  a  much  lighter  expense  in  the  way 
of  manure. 

6.  Boundaries.  —  With  respect  to  the  shape  or  outUne  of 
a  small  place,  that  form  is  most  suitable  which  is  simple,  free 
from  all  acutely  angular  corners  and  any  great  irregularities. 
A  place  that  has  many  angles  or  a  very  broken  outline  is 
less  capable  of  being  made  either  useful  or  ornamental,  and 
requires  a  larger  amount  of  fencing,  which  is  always  expen- 
sive. Very  narrow  pieces  of  land  are  also  to  be  avoided,  as 
affording  no  scope  for  variety  of  treatment  and  presenting 
the  hard  boundary  lines  too  prominently. 

That  boundary  is  unquestionably  the  best  which  is  com.- 
posed  of  pretty  regular  lines  and  brings  the  whole  into  a 
somewhat  oblong  figure,  of  which  the  greatest  length  is  north 
and  south,  or  nearly  so,  the  length  being  about  one-third 
greater  than  the  breadth.  Such  a  shape  is  particularly 
adapted  for  the  geometrical  style  of  gardening.  In  the  freer 
EngUsh  manner  a  little  more  irregularity  of  outline  might 
be  preferable.  If  the  southerly  end  of  such  a  plot  be  the 
broadest,  this  will  be  a  decided  merit  generally,  as  it  will 
afford  a  wider  range  of  view  and  make  the  whole  appear 
larger  from  the  best  windows  of  the  house. 

A  nearly  triangular  figure,  the  narrow  end  of  which  is  cut 


12  Landscape  Gardening 

off  and  riot  drawn  to  a  point,  and  the  broader  end  having  a 
rather  southerly  aspect,  will  be  a  desirable  shape  for  a  small 
piece  of  land.  If  there  be  space  enough  for  the  entrances  on 
the  northern  side,  the  increased  and  expanding  breadth  at  the 
southern  part  will  be  of  great  consequence  from  an  ornamen- 
tal point  of  view.  At  the  same  time  nothing  could  be  more 
unfortunate  than  to  have  a  plot  gradually  narrowing  away 
on  the  best  side  of  the  house;  and  a  shape  at  all  approaching 
to  a  triangle,  with  the  narrow  part  fronting  the  principal  Avin- 
dows  of  the  house,  would  be  one  of  the  worst  that  could  be 
selected,  unless  the  slope  of  the  land  be  a  very  rapid  one 
towards  the  south,  and  the  property  immediately  in  front 
be  of  a  decidedly  open  and  park-like  character. 

On  the  whole,  then,  the  spot  that  requires  the  least  quan- 
tity of  fencing,  which  gives  sufi&cient  room  for  access  on  the 
entrance  front,  and  which  widens  out  towards  the  extrerne 
verge  on  the  best  side  of  the  house,  will,  by  admitting  a 
greater  breadth  and  variety  of  prospect,  and  more  light  and 
air,  as  well  as  by  imparting  an  appearance  of  extent  and 
rendering  the  fences  cheaper  and  easier  to  preserve,  be  in  all 
respects  preferable. 

7.  Climate.  —  Where  a  person  is  in  some  measure  tied  to  a 
particular  district  by  business  or  other  connections,  of  course 
there  ^annot  be  much  latitude  of  choice  in  regard  to  climate. 
But  those  who  have  habituated  themselves  to  observe  dif- 
ferences of  this  kind  will  know  that  within  the  circuit  of  a 
few  miles  around  any  town  there  will  be  found  the  most 
striking  variations  of  climate,  according  as  certain  winds  pre- 
vail or  particular  degrees  of  elevation  or  forest  growth  exist. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  towns  a  knowledge  of  the  prevail- 
ing winds  is  of  very  great  moment,  for  at  the  opposite  point 
from  which  they  come  there  will  generally  be  a  greater  visi- 
tation of  smoke  and  other  nuisances.     But  if  the  parts  over 


The   Choice  of  a  Place 


13 


which  smoke  would  thus  frequently  travel  are  elevated,  the 
atmosphere  will  not  be  so  much  polluted  as  it  would  were  they 
low  and  flat.  Hilly  tracts,  again,  as  previously  mentioned,. 
are  not  so  liable  to  be  affected  with  dense  and  disagreeable 
fogs. 

Regarding  the  most  desirable  aspect  for  a  place,  more  posi- 
tive rules  can  be  given.  A  slope  that  inclines  to  the  south- 
east is  unquestionably  the  best  for  every  purpose.  It  is 
more  healthy,  more  cheerful,  better  suited  for  the  growth  of 
plants,  drier,  and  warmer,  than  any  other  that  can  be  chosen. 

A  garden  that  has  not  a  good  aspect  is  seldom  enjoyable. 
It  will  usually  be  damp  and  cold,  the  walks  mossy,  and  the 
plants  unhealthy.  It  will  be  wanting  in  the  great  charm  pro- 
duced by  light  and  shade.  Flowers  will  not  develop  them- 
selves freely  and  finely  nor  will  fruits  be  abundant  or  good. 
In  fact,  with  a  bad  aspect,  the  beauty  of  a  garden  and  the 
pleasure  it  produces  will  be  greatly  marred. 

It  is  true  that,  in  looking  over  an  extensive  landscape,  the 
effects  are  sometimes  heightened  and  improved,  and  the 
observer  is  able  to  examine  them  better,  when  the  sun  is 
behind  him,  and  he  can  stand  in  the  shade  to  scrutinize  a 
richly  illumined  scene.  Every  feature  thus  becomes  more 
distinct,  the  eye  is  not  pained  or  dazzled,  and  the  atmosphere 
appears  clearer.  But  the  benefit  obtained  by  these  results 
would  never  atone  for  the  great  disadvantages  of  a  northerly 
aspect;  and  they  can,  moreover,  often  be  realized  from  the 
entrance  front  of  a  place,  without  any  sacrifice  of  outlook. 

8.  Shelter.  —  To  render  a  place  of  residence  thoroughly 
delightful  it  should  not  be  destitute  of  shelter;  and,  where 
this  exists  naturally,  or  is  already  provided,  the  spot  will  be 
all  the  more  eligible  as  the  site  for  a  house  and  garden. 

If  a  good  range  of  hills  extend  along  the  north,  north-east, 
and  north-west  sides  of  a  plot  and  at  no  great  distance  from 


14  Landscape  Gardening 

it,  it  will  be  admirably  sheltered.  No  position  could  be 
warmer  or  more  favorable  than  one  on  the  slope  or  at  a 
short  distance  from  the  base  of  such  a  range  of  hills.  They 
will  ward  off  all  the  worst  and  most  unhealthy  winds  to 
which  this  country  is  exposed,  without  at  all  interfering  with 
the  action  of  the  sun  at  any  time  of  the  day,  or  during  any 
part  of  the  year. 

In  hilly  countries,  there  is  often  a  considerable  depression 
or  hollow  in  the  face  of  the  hills,  caused  by  the  projection  of 
large  arms  or  buttresses  on  either  side;  and  the  basin  thus 
formed,  if  it  front  any  point  near  the  south,  will  yield  a  par- 
ticularly warm  and  snug  retreat  for  a  house  and  homestead. 

Masses  of  well-grown  trees  on  the  northerly  sides  of  a  place 
would  be  an  excellent  substitute  for  hills,  and  may  occa- 
sionally be  more  pleasant  and  congenial.  Plantations  are 
always  highly  effective  in  regard  to  shelter,  and  it  is  a  great 
point  to  find  them  already  on  the  ground. 

Independently  of  shelter,  however,  if  trees  have  not  been 
drawn  up  and  spoiled  by  neglect,  there  can  scarcely  be  too 
many  of  them  on  any  spot  intended  for  habitation.  Nothing 
is  easier  than  to  thin  out  and  remove  them,  and  there  is 
always  a  great  pleasure  resulting  from  the  formation  of  open- 
ings through  old  plantations,  to  get  views  of  the  outside 
country.  If  the  trees  be  not  unhealthy,  therefore,  and  are 
well  supplied  with  branches,  the  more  abundantly  they  exist, 
the  greater  will  be  the  capabilities  of  a  place.  Large  or  aged 
trees  and  shrubs  are  also  valuable  in  destroying  all  semblance 
of  newness  or  rawness  in  a  garden,  in  giving  an  appearance 
of  age  and  cultivation,  in  shutting  out  bad  objects,  in  improv- 
ing the  outlines  and  grouping  of  new  plantations,  and  in  sup- 
plying an  increased  amount  and  play  of  agreeable  shadow. 

Available  outbuildings,  or  walls,  or  fences  of  any  kind, 
should  not  be  wholly  disregarded.     A  good  existing  fence, 


The   Choice  of  a  Place  15 

especially  if  it  be  a  hedge  where  such  a  thing  would  be  wanted, 
will  be  of  the  greatest  use,  as  it  would  take  many  years  to 
rear  it.  But  it  is  better  that  a  plot  should  be  wholly  without 
every  description  of  appurtenance  than  that  things  of  an 
improper  class  or  of  bad  construction  or  in  a  wrong  position 
should  exist  to  tempt  the  purchaser  to  retain  them,  as  the 
greatest  dissatisfaction  is  commonly  experienced  from  patch- 
ing up  an  old  house  or  other  building  that  is  not  strictly 
suitable,  and  which  can  never  afterwards  be  made  so.  It  is 
far  more  pleasurable,  and  in  the  end  more  economical,  to 
arrange  and  erect  everything  anew,  than  to  submit  to  great 
inconvenience  for  the  sake  of  preserving  some  relic  of 
things  that  actually  exist,  because  they  happen  to  be  ancient. 

9.  The  View.  —  Whatever  kind  of  view  is  sought  to  be 
obtained  from  a  place  can  be  best  compassed  where  it  is 
situated  on  a  slight  eminence;  and  the  rule  will  hold  good 
whether  the  view  be  one  of  the  garden  itself,  as  seen  from  the 
house,  of  natural  scenery,  of  an  arable  and  agricultural  dis- 
trict, of  other  estates,  of  a  river  or  a  lake  or  the  sea,  of  distant 
hills,  or  of  good  individual  objects. 

In  relation  to  the  garden  itself  as  viewed  from  the  house, 
some  modification  of  the  principle  may  perhaps  seem  neces- 
sary. Although  a  place,  the  ground  of  which  rises  as  it 
recedes  from  the  house,  appears  larger,  because  more  of  its 
surface  is  seen,  yet  the  reverse  of  this  would  be  the  case 
when  looked  at  from  the  outside  of  the  garden  or  from 
any  point  just  within  its  boundary;  and  a  slope  from  the 
house  gives  to  the  latter  an  appearance  of  dryness  and  impor- 
tance, and  enables  one  to  bring  in  the  exterior  landscape 
more  easily.  This  may  be  better  understood  by  reference  to 
fig.  I,  which  represents  a  piece  of  land  the  form  of  which 
is  entirely  convex,  with  the  house  on  its  summit.  If  the 
ground  also  rises  in  a  gentle  bank,  just  towards  the  bound- 


i6 


Landscape  Gardening 


ary,  such  a  slope  being  more  perfectly  seen  from  the  house, 
will  enlarge  the  apparent  extent ;  the  general  section  of 
such  a  plot  being  shown  in  fig.  2.  But  any  great  amount 
of  convexity  in  the  surface  of  the  ground  as  it  slopes  from 
the  house  would  be  an  evil  because  it  would  seriously  fore- 
shorten the  whole  and  r.educe  its  apparent  size  materially  as 


Improper  Grade  for  a  Lawn. 


seen  from  the  windows.     A  very  gentle  slope,  with  only  a 
small  portion  of  roundness  in  it,  will  be  preferable. 

One  of  the  chief  desiderata  in  regard  to  the  surface  levels 
of  a  plot  of  land  is  to  obtain  a  good  platform,  which  is  toler- 
ably level,  as  a  site  for  the  house  and  garden.  This  will  give 
the  house  the  appearance  of  being  more  naturally  placed. 


Fig.  2.      Convex-Concave  Grade  for  a  Lawn. 

and  will  lighten  the  expense  of  earthwork  and  of  foundations, 
while  it  will,  in  a  hilly  country,  make  the  garden  more  com- 
fortably accessible.  As  a  general  rule  the  summit  of  a  hill, 
if  it  be  otherwise  than  a  very  low  one,  with  a  broad  piece 
of  table-land  at  the  top,  is  not  so  eligible  for  a  house  as  the 
face  of  an  easy  slope  to  the  south.     In  the  latter  case  the 


The   Choice  of  a   Place  17 

hill  itself  will  afford  some  degree  of  shelter  and  of  back- 
ground, which,  with  the  necessary  planting,  will  soon  give  a 
new  place  a  habitable  look,  such  as  scarcely  any  amount  of 
growth  in  the  trees  would  impart  to  the  crown  of  a  hill. 

That  the  best  views  of  things  beyond  a  garden  may  be  had 
from  a  partial  elevation  will  be  too  obvious  to  need  enforcing. 
In  regard  to  water  however,  which  forms  such  a  beautiful 
and  interesting  addition  to  a  landscape,  a  point  of  view  con- 
siderably above  its  level  will  reveal  its  outline  and  extent 
more  distinctly,  and  is  therefore  better  adapted  for  large  and 
bold  sheets  of  it  than  for  smaller  lakes.  Still,  it  will  always 
be  more  pleasing  and  comfortable  to  be  a  good  deal  above  a 
piece  of  water  that  it  may  seem  in  a  valley  and  that  the 
garden  may  convey  the  impression  of  being  elevated. 

It  is  far  from  being  desirable  that  only  the  features  of 
nature  should,  be  seen  from  a  place.  The  better  parts  of 
detached  neighboring  houses,  good  public  buildings,  places 
of  worship,  etc.,  if  nicely  brought  into  view,  will  give  an  air 
of  habitation  and  sociality  to  a  district.  Rows  of  houses 
however,  or  masses  of  cottages,  unless  the  latter  be  pleasing 
in  themselves  or  picturesquely  grouped,  will  be  very  unsightly 
and  unsuitable  constituents  of  a  landscape.  And  a  spot  that 
overlooks  a  town,  except  partially  and  from  a  height  and  so 
as  to  catch  merely  the  principal  buildings,  need  never  be 
sought.  Still,  glimpses  of  a  navigable  river,  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  a  large  town,  may,  from  the  variety  and  motion 
of  the  craft  employed  upon  it,  give  animation  and  beauty 
to  a  scene.  So,  likewise,  a  distant  view  of  a  town  or  of  a 
portion  of  it  where  there  is  any  irregularity  of  surface,  or 
where  the  principal  buildings  serve  to  compose  a  picture, 
which  is  framed  by  nearer  trees  and  plantations,  may  occa- 
sionally be  rendered  attractive  and  even  striking. 

10.  Aspect.  —  The  principal  aspect  of  a  house  like  that 


Landscape  Gardening 


of  the  garden  should  be  as  nearly  as  possible  south-east. 
This  will  allow  of  the  entrance  being  on  the  north-west  side, 
the  breakfast-room  or  library  having  a  south-east  aspect,  the 
drawing-room  with  a  south-east  and  a  south-west  window, 
and  the  dining-room  looking  north-east  or  north-west,  which 
is  perhaps  the  best  arrangement.  Tf  the  kitchen  and  offices 
be  on  the  ground  floor,  they  can  be  kept  on  the  north-east 
side  of  the  house  where  the  yard  will  also  be  situated  and 
from  which  last  there  should  be  a  communication  with  the 
kitchen  garden. 

A  gentle  eminence  with  the  ground  sloping  a  little  away 
from  it  in  all  directions,  especially  towards  the  south,  will  be 
the  best  site  for  a  house.  An  approach  by  a  rising  road  and 
command  of  the  outlying  scenery  will  thus  be  attained, 
while  the  house  will  be  dry  and  appear  to  be  so.  Its  dignity 
and  importance  will  also  thus  be  enhanced.  It  should  be  put 
rather  nearer  the  north-east  than  the  south-west  side  of  a 
plot  that  there  may  be  some  slight  breadth  of  pleasure  garden 
in  front  of  the  side  drawing-room  window,  and  that  the  offices 
and  yard  may  not  be  too  much  obtruded.  The  center  of 
the  house  should  be  about  one-third  the  distance  from  the 
entrance  to  the  opposite  boundary  of  the  pleasure  grounds 
that  two-thirds  of  the  ground  may  be  devoted  to  the  private 
garden. 

I  have  here  introduced  the  ground-plan  of  an  imaginary 
house  (fig.  3)  by  way  of  illustrating  generally  what  would  be 
a  desirable  arrangement  of  the  rooms,  windows,  offices,  etc., 
with  reference  to  both  aspect  and  convenience.  Not  that  I 
would  pretend  to  such  a  knowledge  of  architectural  detail  as 
would  induce  me  to  design  a  house  that  should  actually  be 
erected.  But,  having  given  the  subject  a  good  deal  of  con- 
sideration, and  having  frequently  experienced  the  difficulty  of 
adapting  grounds  to  what  would  appear  to  be  great  defects 


The  Choice  of  a  Place 


20         .         Landscape  Gardening 

in  architectural  plans,  I  venture  a  hint  or  two  on  this  point 
as  viewed  chiefly  in  the  light  of  my  own  profession. 

By  the  sketch  it  will  be  seen  that  the  entrance  to  the  house 
is  from  the  north-west,  that  no  important  windows  are  on 
that  side,  and  that  the  vestibule  (i)  projects  sufficiently 
beyond  the  main  line  of  the  building  to  allow  of  an  easy 
approach  to  the  door  by  a  carriage.  The  vestibule  is  Hghted 
from  the  south-west  side  and  has  a  recess  in  it  (2)  for  hats, 
cloaks,  etc.,  and  may  be  separated  from  the  hall  (3)  by  glass 
doors.  The  hall  is  also  lighted  by  a  window  from  the  south- 
west which  would  render  it  cheerful  and  give  it  more  of  the 
character  of  a  room.  It  might  also  have  a  fire-place  opposite 
the  entrance  or  against  the  wall  that  divides  it  from  the 
staircase.  It  opens  on  to  a  corridor  (4)  connected  with  all 
the  principal  rooms,  and  has  a  large  window  overlooking  the 
garden  at  the  south-west  end  and  a  glass  door  which  is  the 
entrance  to  the  conservatory  at  the  other  end.  From  this 
corridor,  at  about  the  center  of  the  house  the  staircase  (5), 
which  is  kept  separate  from  the  hall  although  directly  con- 
nected with  it  and  is  opposite  the  doors  of  the  chief  rooms, 
turns  to  the  north-west  and  has  a  broad  window  on  the 
landing.  The  drawing-room  placed  at  the  south  corner  of  the 
house,  farthest  from  the  offices  and  nearest  the  entrance  door, 
has  a  large  bow-window  to  the  south-west,  so  as  to  obtain  a 
view  of  the  garden  on  that  side  and  of  the  setting  sun,  and 
it  has  likewise  two  windows  on  the  south-east  side.  The 
library  or  morning  room  (7)  is  next  to  the  drawing-room  with 
the  window  to  the  south-east;  while  the  dining-room  (8)  is 
near  the  kitchen  and  offices,  farthest  from  the  entrance,  and 
has  two  doors,  one  of  which,  close  to  the  back  passage,  is 
for  the  servants.  The  principal  window  of  the  dining-room 
is  to  the  south-east.  There  are  two  smaller  windows  to  the 
north-east,  one  of  which  looks  into  the  conservatory  (9).     It 


The  Choice  of  a  Place  21 

would  thus  be  a  cheerful  breakfast  or  morning  room,  and  the 
sun  will  have  left  it  long  before  the  usual  dinner  hour.  The 
door  from  the  corridor  into  the  conservatory  would  also  serve 
as  a  garden  door,  there  being  another  door  opposite  to  it  into 
the  garden. 

On  the  north-west  side  of  the  house  there  is  an  office,  busi- 
ness, or  gentleman's  room  (10),  containing  a  recess  for  an 
iron  safe  (11),  and  readily  accessible  from  the  servants'  apart- 
ments. Next  there  is  a  butler's  pantry  (12),  with  a  recess 
for  a  plate  safe  (13),  this  apartment  being  placed  as  near  as 
possible  to  the  entrance  door  and  the  entertaining  rooms, 
besides  being  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  kitchen  and  over- 
looking, by  its  window,  the  approach  to  the  house.  At  14, 
detached  alike  from  the  main  corridor  and  from  the  servants' 
passage,  is  a  water-closet,  and  15  is  the  housekeeper's  room. 
The  kitchen  (16)  has  a  scullery  (17)  and  a  pantry  or  store- 
closet  (18)  attached  to-  it,  the  windows  looking  into  the 
house-yard.  A  servants'  corridor  (19)  is  terminated  by 
a  back  staircase  (20),  which  is  close  to  the  servants'  hall 
(21),  the  latter  having  its  windows  opening  to  the  drying- 
ground  and  being  near  the  back  entrance.  None  of  the 
office  windows  look  into  the  garden  or  pleasure  grounds, 
as  the  window  for  lighting  the  back  corridor  may  be  of 
dulled  glass. 

In  the  house-yard  (22)  there  is  sufficient  space  for  a  cart  to 
turn,  and  from  this  yard  only  is  there  access  to  the  drying- 
ground  (25),  which  has  a  hedge  on  the  side  next  the  house- 
yard.  The  coal-shed  (24),  ash-pit  (25),  and  water-closet  (26), 
are  placed  in  a  recess  of  the  house-yard,  where  they  are  more 
out  of  observation,  and  the  yard  is  thus  left  clearer,  neater, 
and  more  compact.  The  numbers  27,  28,  and  29  refer  to  a 
compost  and  rubbish  yard,  the  kitchen  garden,  and  a  flower 
garden,  respectively. 


22 


Landscape   Gardening 


APPROACH  TO  HOUSE 


vc^^Tt 


Fig.  4.     Arrangement  of  an  American  House,  Designed  by 
Willcox  &  Sayward,  Seattle. 


The   Choice  of  a  Place 


23 


II.  Approaches.  —  In  connection  with  every  house  there 
are  certain  matters  of  convenience  and  utihty  to  be  trans- 
acted, which,  if  they  cannot  be  carried  on  apart  from  the 
ornamental  portion  of  the  garden,  would  interfere  with  its 
privacy  and  its  beauty.  Coals,  and  a  variety  of  other  neces- 
saries, have  to  be  brought  to  a  house,  and  rubbish  of  several 
kinds  requires  to  be  taken  from  it.  To  accomplish  this,  it  is  es- 
sential to  the  enjoyment  of  a  place  that  it  should  have  a  back 
and  front  approach,  and  the  facilities  for  affording  these  ought 
to  be  the  subject  of  calculation  when  the  land  is  obtained. 

When  the  access  to  a  house  is  from  a  main  road  along  its 
northerly  side,  separate  approaches  can  readily  be  secured  by 
entering  at  different  points  along  that  boundary.  If  the  ap- 
proach be  only  on  any  side  near  the  south,  however,  it  is 
difficult  to  get  a  second  entrance  without  grievously  cutting 
up  the  best  part  of  the  place.  And  where  one  entrance  is  used 
on  the  south  side  for  all  purposes,  the  privacy  of  the  garden 
will  be  almost  entirely  destroyed,  and  servants,  tradesmen, 
vagrants,  etc.,  will  have  the  use  of  the  best  part  of  the  garden, 
and  be  able  to  gaze  into  the  best  windows.  It  is  a  great 
nuisance,  too,  to  have  coals  and  similar  dirty  things  conveyed 
over  the  principal  approach  to  a  house,  and  possibly  deposited 
close  to  the  front  door. 

If,  therefore,  the  chief  entrance  to  a  place  has  necessarily  to 
be  on  the  southerly  side,  it  will  be  desirable  to  have  a  small 
public  lane  at  the  back  of  the  land,  by  which  access  can  be 
given  to  the  offices  of  the  house,  and  to  the  kitchen  garden, 
without  intruding  upon  the  better  portions  of  the  pleasure 
grounds. 

That  some  degree  of  practical  bearing  may  be  given  to 
this  part  of  the  book,  an  outline  imaginary  sketch  (fig.  5), 
embodying  some  of  the  principal  points  which  have  been 
discussed,  is  now  presented.    The  plan  of  the  house,  on  a 


24 


Landscape  Gardening 


previous  page,  is  taken  as  a  basis  of  the  arrangement,  and  the 
present  sketch  is  intended  to  exemplify,  generally,  a  good 


PUBLIC  ROAD 


Fig.  5.      Outline  Plan  of  a  Place. 

shape  for  a  small  plot  of  land,  with  the  relative  position  of 
the  house,  offices,  approaches,  gardens,  field,  etc.,  as  these 


D.  H.  HILL  LIBRARY 

North  Carolina  State  College 


The  Choice  of  a   Place  25 

might  appropriately  be  disposed.  It  does  not  purport  to  be 
a  perfect  model  of  design,  but  is  simply  brought  forward  to 
show  how  the  various  parts  of  a  place  may  be  arranged,  and 
dovetailed  into  one  another.  For  the  sake  of  additional 
clearness,  all  minor  details  are  omitted. 

The  plot  of  land  represented  is  supposed  to  contain  about 
eight  acres,  having  a  public  road  along  the  north-western 
margin,  the  parts  about  the  house  being  tolerably  flat,  the 
field  sloping  to  the  south-east,  and  an  open  country  lying 
towards  the  south  and  east,  with  similar  places  to  the  south- 
west and  the  north-east. 

It  will  readily  be  perceived,  from  this  sketch,  that  a  good 
deal  of  accommodation  is  compressed  into  a  small  compass, 
and  that,  while  each  of  the  departments  is  kept  essentially 
separate,  they  are  all,  where  necessary,  very  thoroughly  and 
directly  connected.  The  principal  approach  to  the  house  has 
a  branch  to  the  stables,  and  one  back  entrance  is  made  to 
give  access  to  the  house-yard,  the  frame-ground,  the  stable- 
yard,  and,  through  the  latter,  to  the  farm-yard,  the  yard 
attached  to  the  gardener's  cottage,  and  the  field.  The  dry- 
ing-ground is  connected  only  with  the  house-yard,  and  has  on 
one  side  of  it  a  hedge  on  which  linen  may  be  hung  to  bleach. 
The  frame-ground  communicates  with  the  house-yard  and 
the  garden-yard,  and  thus  affords  a  direct  way  from  the 
kitchen  garden  to  the  back  entrance  door.  There  is  also 
space  enough  for  pits  and  frames  on  the  north  side  of  the 
frame-ground,  which  will  be  beyond  the  shade  of  walls  or 
buildings,  and  the  separating  Hne  between  this  ground  and 
the  garden-yard  is  merely  a  hedge.  A  cart  entrance  into  the 
frame-ground  completes  the  facihties  of  communication,  by 
allowing  soils  or  manure  to  be  introduced  or  rubbish  carted 
away.  The  pit  for  rubbish  in  the  corner  of  this  ground 
would  enable  the  gardener  always  to  keep  it  clean  and  tidy. 


26  Landscape  Gardening  ' 

The  position  of  the  stable-yard,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
house,  is  a  favorable  one,  as  there  is  comparatively  Httle 
wind  from  that  quarter  to  convey  any  kind  of  nuisance,  and 
the  stables  are  conveniently  near,  without  being  uncomfort- 
ably or  obtrusively  so.  It  will  be  noticed,  too,  that  the  stable 
buildings  are  opposite  the  center  of  the  kitchen  garden,  so 
that  the  clock-tower,  designed  to  surmount  the  former,  would 
be  an  object  from  the  middle  walk;  and  both  the  stables 
and  the  farm  buildings  face  the  south-east,  which  would  ren- 
der them  dry,  pleasant,  and  healthy.  The  situation  of  the 
manure  pits  is  likewise  convenient  for  conveying  the  manure 
to  the  frame-ground,  the  kitchen  garden,  or  the  field;  and 
the  manure  made  in  the  cow  house  and  pig  sties  could,  by 
the  doors  into  the  garden-yard  and  into  the  back  road,  be 
removed  with  similar  ease. 

In  the  walls,  too,  there  would  be  considerable  economy  of 
space  and  material,  as  most  of  them  are  made  to  answer  a 
double  purpose.  The  wall  on  the  south-east  and  north-east 
sides  of  the  kitchen  garden  is  capable  of  being  used  for  fruit 
trees  on  both  sides,  and  that  along  the  south-western  margin, 
as  just  mentioned,  serves  for  ornamental  climbers  on  the  side 
towards  the  pleasure  grounds. 

By  placing  the  gardener's  cottage  near  the  north  corner  of 
the  land  the  whole  property  is  protected  on  that  side  and  the 
gardener  is  brought  into  the  midst  of  his  more  important 
duties.  A  path  as  shown  from  the  high  road  to  the  cottage 
would  enable  any  one  to  come  to  it  independently  without 
passing  into  the  grounds. 

A  little  architectural  skill  in  the  treatment  of  the  various 
elevations,  and  the  adoption  of  such  details  and  decorations 
as  would  give  harmony  and  consistency  to  the  whole  might, 
I  conceive,  produce  an  agreeable  effect  of  grouping  from  so 
varied  an  outline,  and  by  a  judicious  adaptation  of  the  roofs 


The  Choice  of  a  Place  27 

turn  even  the  subordinate  offices  to  advantage.  The  gen- 
eral picturesqueness  and  artistic  effect  of  any  group  of 
buildings  must  manifestly  depend  on  the  treatment  of  the 
roofs  with  regard  to  material,  pitch,  breadth  of  eaves  and 
diversity  of  elevation. 

To  sum  up  the  suggestions  offered  under  this  head,  though 
few  pieces  of  land  would  perfectly  fulfill  al  the  several  require- 
ments thus  set  forth,  it  may  safely  be  affirmed  that  such  as 
make  the  nearest  approach  to  them  will  produce  the  greatest 
amount  of  comfort  and  satisfaction  and  be  most  permanently 
fertile  in  the  various  sources  of  pleasure.  And  where  two 
places  comprising  a  fair  proportion  of  some  of  these  capa- 
biUties,  but  wanting  in  others,  should  come  into  competition, 
the  preponderance  in  either  of  those  particular  merits  to 
which  most  importance  is  attached  by  the  individual  select- 
ing, must  determine  their  relative  desirableness. 

It  is  not  for  a  moment  supposed  that  the  question  has  here 
been  fully  considered.  All  that  has  been  pretended  to  be 
done  is  to  offer  a  few  leading  hints  The  standing,  occupa- 
tions, pursuits,  objects,  connections,  or  tastes  of  each  person 
choosing  a  place  for  residence  will  all  more  or  less  affect 
his  own  judgment. 


CHAPTER  II 

What  to  Avoid 

When  a  physician  is  called  in  to  prescribe  for  a  patient, 
one  of  the  first  things  which  is  commonly  found  necessary 
is  to  advise  what  the  invalid  should  abstain  from  taking,  and 
how  he  should  endeavor  to  escape  from  injurious  influences. 
This  treatment  is  often  found  sufficient  without  the  use  of 
any  medicine  and  in  all  cases  greatly  aids  the  application  of 
more  active  remedies.  And  thus  it  is  with  respect  to  any 
one  who  advises  on  other  subjects.  No  good  foundation  can 
be  laid  for  such  works  as  the  present  unless  all  erroneous 
and  prejudicial  notions  be  first  cleared  away. 

In  aiming,  therefore,  to  bring  the  subject  fairly  before  the 
reader,  it  will  be  necessary,  at  starting,  to  show  what  are  the 
things  which  the  amateur  should  not  do,  before  proceeding  to 
speak  of  such  as  should  be  actually  performed.  Many  a  per- 
son who  has  gardened  for  himself  has  no  doubt  for  want  of 
such  beacons  irretrievably  spoiled  his  place  before  discov- 
ering his  error,  or  at  least  involved  himself  in  a  consider- 
ably larger  outlay,  or  rendered  the  whole  design  patchy  and 
disjointed. 

I.  Overdoing.  —  Possibly  the  greatest  and  most  preva- 
lent mistake  of  those  who  lay  out  gardens  for  themselves  is  at- 
tempting too  much.  A  mind  unaccustomed  to  generalize  or 
to  take  in  a  number  of  leading  objects  at  a  glance  finds  out 
the  different  points  embraced  in  landscape  gardening  one  by 
one,  and,  unable  to  decide  which  of  them  can  most  suitably 
be  applied,  determines  on  trying  to  compass  more  than  can 
28 


What  to  Avoid  29 

really  be  attained.  One  thing  after  another  is  at  different 
times  observed  and  liked,  in  some  place  visited,  and  each  is 
successively  wished  to  be  transferred  to  the  observer's  own 
garden,  without  regard  to  its  fitness  for  the  locality  or  its 
relation  to  what  has  previously  been  done.  A  neighbor  or 
a  friend  has  a  place  in  which  certain  features  are  exquisitely 
developed  and  these  are  at  once  sought  to  be  copied.  The 
practice  of  cutting  up  a  garden  into  mere  fragments,  which  is 
unhappily  of  too  frequent  occurrence,  is  the  natural  result  of 
such  a  state  of  things. 

There  are  several  ways  in  which  a  place  may  be  frittered 
away,  so  as  to  become  wholly  deficient  in  character  and 
beauty.  It  may  be  too  much  broken  up  in  its  general 
arrangement;  and  this  is  the  worst  variety  of  the  fault,  be- 
cause least  easily  mended  and  most  conspicuous.  To  aim 
at  comprising  the  principal  features  proper  to  the  largest 
gardens  in  those  of  the  most  limited  size  is  surely  not  a 
worthy  species  of  imitation,  and  one  which  can  only  excite 
ridicule  and  end  in  disappointment.  There  is  a  wide  differ- 
ence between  variety  which  is  desirable  and  the  separation 
into  minute  parts,  or  blending  of  incongruous  materials, 
the  former  being  quite  compatible  with  both  unity  and 
simplicity. 

A  place  may  be  likewise  too  much  carved  up  into  detached 
portions,  or  overshadowed  or  reduced  in  apparent  size  by 
planting  too  largely.  Trees  and  shrubs  constitute  the  great- 
est ornaments  of  a  garden,  but  they  soon  become  disagree- 
able when  a  place  is  overrun  with  them  by  contracting  the 
space,  shutting  out  light,  rendering  the  grass  imperfect  and 
the  walks  mossy.  Nothing  could  be  more  damp,  gloomy, 
and  confined  than  a  small  place  too  much  cumbered  with 
plantations.  Nor  is  the  consideration  of  its  influences  on 
the  health  of  the  occupants  at  all  unimportant,  for  where 


30  Landscape  Gardening 

sun  and  wind  cannot  get  free  play  a  moist  and  stagnant  air, 
very  injurious  to  all  animal  life,  is  necessarily  occasioned. 

But  if  this  be  true  with  regard  to  any  superfluous  vege- 
tation in  general,  it  is  much  more  so  in  respect  to  large 
timber  trees.  To  introduce  or  retain  many  of  these  in  a  small 
garden  is  quite  contrary  to  all  the  principles  of  good  taste, 
and  conducive  only  to  trouble  and  discomfort.  All  the  evils 
which  attend  a  redundancy  of  the  lower  forms  of  plants  are 
greatly  aggravated,  and  carried  to  their  highest  point  by  a 
similar  overgrowth  of  trees. 

In  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  house,  moreover, 
it  is  particularly  desirable  that  trees  and  shrubs  should  not 
abound.  Independently  of  darkening  the  windows,  they 
communicate  great  dampness  to  the  walls,  and  prevent  that 
action  of  the  wind  upon  the  building  which  alone  can  keep 
it  dry,  comfortable,  and  consequently  healthy.  It  is  almost 
impossible  for  any  house  to  be  otherwise  than  damp  which 
is  too  much  and  too  closely  surrounded  by  plantations.  Any 
portion  of  these,  therefore,  which  may  be  necessary  to  shut 
out  the  offices  or  outbuildings  should  be  placed  as  far  from 
the  walls  as  practicable,  and  by  no  means  allowed  to  be  in 
contact  with  them. 

Another  mode  in  which  the  effect  of  a  garden  may  be  marred 
is  in  the  formation  of  numerous  flower  beds,  or  groups  of 
mixed  shrubs  and  flowers  on  the  lawn.  This  is  a  very  com- 
mon failing  and  one  which  greatly  disfigures  a  place,  espe- 
cially as,  where  intended  only  for  flowers,  such  beds  usually 
remain  vacant  and  naked  for  several  months  in  the  year. 
Flower  beds,  too,  when  introduced  in  any  quantity  on  a 
small  lawn,  have  an  exceedingly  artificial  appearance,  remind- 
ing one  of  the  character  common  to  children's  gardens.  They 
interfere  sadly  with  all  ideas  of  breadth,  harmony,  and 
repose. 


What  to  Avoid  31 

A  still  more  striking  interruption  to  that  beautiful  con- 
tinuity, which  does  so  much  in  the  way  of  producing  size  and 
expression,  occurs  when  unnecessary  divisions  are  introduced 
into  a  place.  These  may  be  employed  to  detach  parts  of  a 
very  different  character;  or,  as  in  the  old  system  of  hedging  in 
particular  portions,  may  simply  be  intended  to  change  the 
scene  suddenly,  or  furnish  certain  Hnes  which  are  probably 
supposed  to  accord  with  the  general  character  of  the  house. 
Not  only,  however,  are  those  formal  divisions  mostly  inad- 
missible in  a  Hmited  space,  but  all  kinds  of  separating  Hnes, 
though  varied  and  broken  in  the  most  artful  manner,  must 
be  condemned,  as  a  rule,  unless  the  place  is  tolerably  large. 
These  remarks  of  course  do  not  apply  to  plantations  or 
fences  between  the  kitchen  and  pleasure  garden,  or  between 
the  latter  and  the  field,  nor  do  they  refer  to  those  irregular 
masses  of  shrubs  or  trees  which  may  sometimes  be  thrown 
partly  across  a  lawn  to  occasion  a  fresh  scene  behind  them. 
They  are  simply  aimed  at  such  separating  Hnes,  whether  of 
fence  or  plantation,  as  might  be  dispensed  with  or  for  which 
there  is  no  real  necessity,  as  well  as  at  the  practice  of  splitting 
up  a  place  into  minute  parts  instead  of  making  it  as  spacious 
and  airy  as  possible. 

Partly  for  the  reasons  just  alleged,  and  also  because  they 
introduce  ugly  strips  of  a  conspicuously  different  color  on  a 
lawn,  a  multiplicity  of  walks,  beyond  what  are  absolutely 
requisite,  is  very  undesirable  in  a  small  piece  of  ground.  It  is 
acknowledged  that  numerous  walks  conduce  to  variety,  but 
it  is  much  better  to  have  only  that  moderate  amount  of  the 
latter  which  can  be  attained  without  the  sacrifice  of  simplicity. 
Walks  that  have  no  definite  or  sufficiently  important  object, 
and  do  not  serve  to  reveal  features  or  aspects  of  a  place 
that  would  otherwise  be  imperfectly  seen  or  entirely  lost,  are 
always  to  be  avoided. 


32  Landscape  Gardening 

A  garden  may  also  be  overloaded  with  a  variety  of  things, 
which,  though  ornamental  in  themselves,  and  not  at  all  out  of 
keeping  with  the  house  or  the  principal  elements  of  the  land- 
scape, may  yet  impart  to  it  an  affected  or  ostentatious  charac- 
ter. An  undue  introduction  of  sculptured  or  other  figures, 
vases,  seats  and  arbors,  baskets  for  plants,  and  such  like 
objects  would  come  within  the  limits  of  this  description. 
And  there  is  nothing  of  which  people  in  general  are  so  intol- 
erant in  others  as  the  attempt  to  crowd  within  a  confined 
space  the  appropriate  adornments  of  the  most  ample  gardens. 
It  is  invariably  taken  as  evidence  of  a  desire  to  appear  to 
be  and  to  possess  that  which  the  reality  of  the  case  will  not 
warrant,  and  is  visited  with  the  reprobation  and  contempt 
commonly  awarded  to  ill-grounded  assumption.  An  unpre- 
suming  garden,  like  a  modest  individual,  may  have  great 
defects  without  challenging  criticism,  and  will  even  be  liked 
and  praised  because  of  its  very  unobtrusiveness.  But  where  a 
great  deal  is  aimed  at,  and  there  is  much  pretension,  whether 
in  persons  or  things,  scrutiny  seems  invited,  incongruities 
are  magnified,  and  actual  merits  are  passed  by  unnoticed. 

Artificial  mounds,  though  they  may  be  very  useful  for 
some  objects,  and  conducive  to  effect  in  certain  positions, 
will  be  exceedingly  unsatisfactory  if  made  too  high,  too 
conspicuous,  or  too  decidedly  indicative  of  the  employment 
of  art  in  their  formation.  If  the  ground  of  the  neighbor- 
ing country  be  very  flat  they  will  appear  all  the  more  out 
of  place  and  require  adapting  with  the  nicest  elaboration. 
Everything  in  the  shape  of  a  large  hillock  or  long  Hne  of 
bank  that  has  no  particular  meaning  and  is  badly  connected 
with  the  general  surface  can  never  present  a  pleasing  charac- 
ter. Some  evidence  of  a  sufficient  intention  or  purpose  and 
a  manifest  correspondence  with  the  rest  of  the  scene  will  be 
absolutely  demanded  in  all  such  elevations. 


What  to  Avoid 


33 


2.  Rustic  Work.  — Among  the  more  specific  features  to  be 
repudiated  in  a  small  garden  the  employment  of  rockeries 
or  other  rustic  objects  in  connection  with  the  house,  or  in  its 
immediate  neighborhood,  may  be  next  mentioned.  Every 
house  must  be  regarded  as  a  work  of  art  whatever  may  be 
its  class  or  merit,  and  there  would  consequently  be  a  want 
of  harmony  in  associating  it  with  anything  composed  of, 
or  resembling,  the  uncultivated  parts  of  nature.  However 
ingeniously  it  may  be  contrived,  a  rockery  near  a  house 
must  be  considered  radically  wrong,  and  though  great  skill 
be  used  in  adaptation  or  a  variety  of  fortunate  accidents 
eventually  awaken  interest,  these  can  never  wholly  atone 
for  the  fundamental  error.  Nor  will  the  way  in  which 
such  things  are  generally  managed  admit  of  even  this  extenu- 
ation and  excuse.  And  as  a  retired  corner  could  almost 
always  be  found  for  cultivating  rock-plants  if  desired,  those 
who  would  steer  clear  of  the  vulgarities  and  irregularities  of 
mere  cockneyism  will  do  well  not  to  permit  anything  of  the 
kind  I  have  been  describing  around  their  houses.  When 
composed  of.  such  materials  as  shells,  pieces  of  old  porcelain, 
scorife,  and  other  small,  artificial  or  manufactured  articles 
and  interspersed  with  grotesque  looking  busts,  heads,  etc.,  as 
is  frequently  the  case,  their  use  in  connection  with  houses  is 
all  the  more  to  be  deprecated. 

As  similarly  interfering  with  the  harmony  of  a  place,  the 
employment  of  conspicuous  grottoes,  towers,  summer  houses, 
or  other  buildings  within  a  short  distance  or  in  open  view 
from  the  house,  cannot  be  defended  on  any  known  principle 
in  landscape  arrangement.;  If  very  sparingly  introduced,  and 
of  a  quiet  appearance  and  partially  concealed,  architectural 
objects  though  not  in  the  same  style  as  the  house  may  be 
occasionally  admissible.  It  is  against  the  staring  and  grossly 
peculiar  forms  sometimes  met  with  in  suburban  gardens  that 


34  Landscape  Gardening 

the  chief  objection  Hes.  A  castellated  grotto,  for  example, 
with  the  greatest  and  most  fantastic  variety  of  outline  and 
numerous  turrets  is  occasionally  to  be  seen  from  a  house 
either  in  the  Grecian  or  Italian  form,  or  from  one  of  those 
square,  commonplace  erections  from  which  everything  like 
style  is  expressly  omitted. 

3.  Overplanting.  —  The  practice  of  planting  much  imme- 
diately around  a  house  is  erroneous  in  other  ways  than  those 
yet  pointed  out.  It  prevents  the  true  proportions,  outlines, 
and  details  of  a  building  from  being  properly  seen  and  rightly 
appreciated.  If  a  house  be  well  designed,  it  should  make  a 
picture  of  itself  and  only  require  the  aid  of  vegetable  forms, 
at  a  little  distance  from  it,  as  supports  and  accompaniments. 
An  occasional  tree  or  plant  may  be  valuable  to  balance  the 
several  parts,  to  soften  abrupt  transitions  of  outline,  to  sober 
and  break  a  glare  of  color,  or  to  impart  an  air  of  finish  in 
some  cases;  and  even  a  mass  of  trees  or  shrubs  would  often 
be  effective  in  blinding  inferior  parts  of  the  building,  or 
covering  defects  of  symmetry  or  enrichment.  But  where 
the  architect  has  thoroughly  studied  his  subject  and  treated 
it  as  a  picture,  aids  of  this  sort  will  be  but  little  wanted 
and  should  be  adopted  with  the  utmost  care.  There  is 
probably  no  one  point  in  landscape  gardening  wherein  less 
of  the  true  feeling  of  art  is  exhibited  than  in  the  choice  of 
accompaniments  to  a  building. 

4.  Tree  Belts.  ■ — The  planting  of  tree  belts  on  small  places 
is  always  quite  inappropriate.  They  consist  of  strips  of  trees, 
either  of  equal  or  irregular  width,  placed  just  within  the 
boundary,  so  as  to  confine  the  view  wholly  to  the  place  itself. 
They  serve,  in  fact,  completely  to  shut  it  in  by  a  kind  of 
green  wall,  which  effectually  excludes  a  great  deal  of  sunlight 
and  air  and  all  appearance  of  distance.  They  make  the 
garden  a  sort  of  prison  which  cannot  be  seen  into  by  others 


What  to  Avoid  35 

and  from  which  not  a  ghmpse  can  be  obtained  of  what  is 
passing  without.  Privacy  no  doubt  they  may  secure,  but 
it  is  the  privacy  of  the  cell  or  the  cloister,  —  a  sort  of 
monastic  seclusion  which  would  better  fit  the  tenant  of  a 
hermitage. 

Nothing  could  be  more  monotonous  than  a  timber  belt  in 
which  the  trees  are  nearly  all  of  the  same  age,  height  and 
general  character.  All  variety  of  effect  and  all  ideas  of  in- 
definiteness  are  of  course  out  of  the  question  under  such  cir- 
cumstances. To  whatever  part  of  the  garden  we  go  the  same 
hard  and  uniform  boundary  terminates  the  view.  There  is 
no  play  of  outline,  none  of  that  beautiful  illusion  which  arises 
from  skillful  connection  with  other  property.  The  cheerful- 
ness of  sunlight  is  curtailed,  and  the  healthy  vigor  common 
to  plants  which  have  plenty  of  light  and  air  is  not  to  be 
found.  The  walks  become  green  and  slimy,  and  are  always 
more  or  less  damp,  while  a  portion  of  the  grass  is  made  feeble 
and  sickly  or  gradually  dwindles  away  into  mere  mossiness. 

But  the  worst  feature  of  all  these  evils  is  that  they  have 
seldom  any  origin  in  necessity,  and  could  usually  be  obviated. 
There  are  extremely  few  places  so  thoroughly  surrounded  by 
bad  objects  as  to  allow  of  no  breaks  in  the  boundary  and  no 
peeps  into  the  country  beyond.  And  even  where  such  is  the 
case  considerable  diversity  and  interest  may  be  created  by 
the  use  of  plants  of  different  heights  and  habits  to  act  as  the 
screen.  Indeed,  a  boundary  that  must  necessarily  be  a  bar- 
rier to  all  further  view  into  the  outlying  country  may  be  so 
contrived  and  treated  as  scarcely  to  appear  like  a  boundary 
at  all,  as  I  shall  hereafter  have  occasion  to  show.  I  need  only 
add  here  that  formal,  regular  belts,  especially  where  the  trees 
are  planted  in  rows,  are  in  the  worst  possible  taste. 

Those  masses  of  trees  or  shrubs  known  as  clumps,  and  noto- 
rious for  their  extreme  clumsiness,  are  a  part  of  the  same 


36 


Landscape  Gardening 


system  as  belts,  and  alike  open  to  reprobation.  They  are 
either  roundish,  or  of  no  regular  figure,  nor  can  they  be  called 
irregular.  As  generally  used,  they  can  only  be  described  as 
large  spots  or  blots  in  the  landscape,  having  neither  beauty 
in  themselves  nor  connection  with  anything  else.  It  is  prob- 
able that  they  were  originally  intended  as  the  foundation  or 
nucleus  of  a  scattered  group,  merely  filled  up  for  a  time,  to 


f'ig.  7.     Same  as  Fig.  6  —  Improved. 


obtain  protection  and  greater  rapidity  of  growth.  But  such 
objects  might  be  just  as  well  fulfilled  in  conjunction  with 
some  more  indefinite  and  pleasing  external  outline. 

Narrow  strips  or  lines  of  plantation  are  among  the  most 
tasteless  forms  which  belts  can  assume,  and  are  equally  mean 
and  undignified  wherever  else  they  may  occur.  They  can  so 
readily  be  seen  through  and  will  frequently  present  at  the 
lower  -parts  a  mere  assemblage  of  bare  stems.  Their  efifect 
is    most    meager.     They    want    breadth    and    massiveness. 


What  to  Avoid 


37 


Hence,  when  plantations  are  necessarily  so  straitened,  they 
should  be  composed  mainly  of  such  low-growing  shrubs  and 
dwarf  trees,  especially  evergreens,  as  will,  by  being  planted 
tolerably  close  and  furnished  down  to  the  ground,  produce 
a  thicket-like  character  that  shall  conceal  or  disguise  their 
actual  dimensions. 


In  the  subjoined  sketches,  fig.  6  shows  a  narrow  belt  of 
trees,  similar  in  size  and  character,  such  as  is  frequently  seen 
round  the  margins  of  small  parks,  where,  if  undergrowth  of 
any  kind  has  ever  been  planted,  it  has  become  killed  by  the 
density  and  shade  of  the  larger  trees.  Fig.  7  will  serve  as  a 
hint  of  the  way  in  which  such  a  belt  may  be  broken  up  and 
its  form  still  more  diversified  by  the  use  of  a  few  intermediate 
bushes,  such  as  thorns  or  hollies. 


38  Landscape  Gardening 

The  same  defect  rendered  probably  a  little  more  manifest 
from  the  superior  beauty  and  variety  of  the  ground  line  will 
be  apparent  in  fig.  8,  which  exhibits  a  belt  traversing  an 
undulating  surface.  And  the  mode  of  remedying  the  evil  is 
partially  indicated  in  fig.  9,  where  the  trees  are  thrown  into 
masses  on  the  slopes  and  summits  of  the  swells  in  the  ground, 
the  hollow  being  left  unclothed  for  the  purpose  of  marking 
the  full  extent  of  its  depression. 

5.  Bad  Fences.  — ^ Any  description  of  high  fence  that  con- 
fines a  place  too  much  is  as  faulty  in  all  essential  respects  as  a 
belt  of  trees,  and  in  some  particulars  even  more  so.  It  has  a 
harsher,  more  forbidding,  and  exclusive  appearance,  and  its 
upper  line  will  necessarily  be  stiffer.  It  gives  an  unkindly 
and  inhospitable  expression  to  a  place.  Besides,  high  close 
fences  keep  out  air  even  more  than  trees,  and  also  produce, 
for  a  given  distance,  a  more  complete  shade.  They  should 
never  be  employed  unless  they  are  really  indispensable,  and 
then  they  ought  to  have  the  hardness  of  their  lines  relieved 
by  trees  and  shrubs  inside,  or  with  ivy  or  other  climbers 
scrambling  irregularly  over  them.  Those  sides  of  a  garden 
where  shelter  is  required  must,  however,  be  excepted  from  the 
rule,  though  it  will  generally  be  found  that  trees  are  a  much 
better  screen  for  gardens  than  a  wall,  provided  there  be 
breadth  enough  to  admit  of  a  sufficiently  dense  plantation. 

6.  Over-exposure.  —  There  is  an  opposite  extreme  to  that 
just  described,  into  which  some  persons  are  apt  to  fall  by 
rendering  their  gardens  too  exposed.  Examples  might  be 
found  in  which  from  a  love  of  display  or  a  disposition  to  give 
others  the  benefit  of  whatever  enjoyment  happens  to  be 
possessed,  every  inch  of  the  garden  is  bared  to  public  gaze. 
There  is  thus  no  quiet,  no  retirement,  and  scarcely  any 
of  the  pleasure  arising  from  the  ownership  of  property. 
A  lady  or  gentleman  fond  of  gardening  cannot  engage  in  any 


What  to  Avoid 


39 


of  its  pursuits  without  attracting  general  notice;  dogs  and 
other  animals  will  have  the  run  of  the  place;  and  the  luxury 
of  cherishing  song-birds  must  be  relinquished,  for  they  will 
not  frequent  a  garden  that  is  so  unsheltered. 

Nor  is  this  all.  Every  beautiful  flower  that  unfolds  itself, 
or  shrub  that  spreads  out  its  attractive  berries  about  Christ- 
mas time,  affords  so  many  temptations  to  pilfering  for  the 
passers-by,  among  whom  there  will  ordinarily  be  some,  at 
least,  who  will  be  unable  to  resist  the  inducement,  and  the 
mortification  of  seeing  the  choicest  and  most  admired  favor- 
ites thus  stolen  will  be  frequently  incurred. 

7.  Removal  of  Trees.— Where  a  garden  is  to  be  made  on 
land  that  has  been  planted  at  some  previous  period,  and  trees 
of  considerable  magnitude  exist  upon  it,  especial  care  should 
be  used  in  reference  to  the  removal  of  any  of  these,  so  as  not 
to  render  the  place  too  open  and  bare;  for  where  fine  trees 
are  known  to  have  stood,  an  air  of  nakedness  and  poverty  of 
the  higher  forms  of  vegetation  will  be  all  the  more  manifest 
and  displeasing.  There  is  no  subject  on  which  greater  delib- 
eration is  demanded  than  the  cutting  down  or  removal  of 
large  trees,  as  nothing  changes  the  character  of  a  place  more. 

8.  Mixed  Styles.  —  The  adoption  of  too  great  a  mixture 
of  styles  in  gardens  is  an  error  that  should  be  specially 
guarded  against.  It  is  the  source  of  numberless  little  incon- 
gruities and  improprieties,  and  although,  where  the  space  is 
very  small,  it  may  be  somewhat  difficult  to  attain  any  style 
at  all,  yet  a  mixture  of  the  formal  and  the  free,  the  decorated 
and  the  simple,  the  picturesque  and  the  polished  is  some- 
times seen  attempted,  and  with  the  worst  effects.  Straight 
and  regular  lines  can  rarely  be  blended  with  curved  and  flow- 
ing ones  nor  can  rough  and  broken  forms  be  fitly  associated 
with  such  as  are  smooth  and  graceful.  Things  which  have 
no  affinity  in  their  character,  or  expression,  should  not,  except 


40  Landscape   Gardening 

in  very  rare  and  peculiar  instances,  be  brought  into  conjunc- 
tion. 

9.  Unsuitable  ornaments  are  things  which  many  persons 
who  have  only  a  glimmering  of  the  requirements  of  art  have 
a  great  propensity  for  placing  about  gardens.  These  may 
be  of  the  nature  of  artificial  basins  of  water,  ponds,  figures, 
bridges,  flag-poles,  prospect-towers,  cannon,  groups  of  stones, 
spar,  or  roots,  with  objects  of  a  similar  nature,  which  may  or 
may  not  be  fitting  ornaments  for  a  garden  in  themselves,  but 
which  may  be  so  inappropriately  disposed,  or  so  entirely 
unallied  to  the  prevailing  characteristics  of  a  particular  spot, 
as  to  be  wholly  inadmissible.  In  some  few  cases  it  may 
happen  that  the  vulgarity  or  the  ugliness  of  an  individual 
object  offends  the  eye  of  taste,  but  a  much  more  common 
cause  for  complaint  exists  in  the  passion  for  scraping  together 
all  sorts  of  good  or  indifferent  things  without  adequate  regard 
being  paid  to  their  affinity  to  each  other,  or  their  suitableness 
for  the  place'  in  which  they  are  deposited. 

ID.  Cheap  Surprises. — The  making  arrangements  in  the 
plan  of  a  place  for  occasioning  to  visitors  one  or  more  little 
surprises  as  they  are  passing  round  the  garden,  is  extremely 
unsatisfactory  at  best.  It  is  an  appeal  to  the  lowest  species 
of  admiration,  and  all  the  pleasure  it  may  occasion  is  but 
momentary,  and  can  never  be  renewed  to  the  same  individual. 
When  on  a  small  scale,  too,  the  machinery  by  which  the  effect 
is  produced  will  be  always  sadly  apparent.  Solid  merits  and 
substantial  beauties  are  much  to  be  preferred,  for  the  pleasure 
to  be  derived  from  them  never  ceases  and  does  not  satiate. 

II.  Eccentricities. — From  a  similar  cause,  all  manner  of 
eccentricities  in  a  garden  will,  if  they  have  nothing  better  to 
boast  of,  never  obtain  lasting  admiration  and,  as  in  personal 
character,  are  more  generally  the  evidences  of  a  feeble  mind 
than  of  the  possession  of  genius.     It  is  far  safer  and  more 


What  to  Avoid  41 

conducive  to  that  impartation  of  pleasure  to  others  which 
all  seek  or  profess  to  wish  for,  to  keep  only  in  the  beaten 
track  and  strive  after  excellences  which  are  sufficiently  known 
and  acknowledged.  Enough  of  freshness  and  originahty  to 
satisfy  any  reasonably  active  mind  may  easily  be  attained 
by  new  combinations  of  the  ever-varying  materials  of  nature, 
without  striving  to  jumble  together  things  that  can  have  no 
possible  correspondence  or  relationship. 

Everything  partaking  of  the  nature  of  a  sham,  also  what- 
ever is  wanting  in  real  excellence,  will  be  discarded  by  persons 
desiring  to  obtain  credit  for  correct  taste.  Artificial  ruins, 
mere  fronts  to  buildings,  figures  to  represent  animals,  bridges 
that  have  no  meaning  or  for  which  there  is  no  necessity,  or 
any  other  merely  artificial  representations  of  natural  or  other 
objects,  where  the  aim  and  intention  are  to  induce  the  belief 
that  they  are  really  natural,  will  commonly  be  despised  when 
the  trick  is  discovered. 

12.  Formality.  —  The  problem  of  how  to  treat  a  very 
small  place  is  an  exceedingly  difficult  one.  On  the  one  hand 
a  large  formal  treatment  is  apt  to  appear  pretentious,  while 
on  the  other  hand,  the  natural  style  is  sure  to  seem  cramped. 
Whatever  is  attempted  must  be  carried  out  with  extreme 
simpHcity.  In  general  modern  taste  leans  toward  very  simple 
compositions  in  geometrical  lines,  avoiding  both  the  incon- 
gruity of  flowing  lines  and  the  ambitiousness  of  complicated 
formal  work. 

13.  Large  geometrical  figures,  unless  they  embrace  the 
whole  garden,  are  never  satisfactory,  even  when  kept  ex- 
tremely simple.  The  more  their  parts  are  multiplied,  the 
more  destructive  they  are  to  dignity,  breadth,  and  repose. 
Flower  gardens,  therefore,  and  other  separate  parts  of  a 
place,  when  geometrically  laid  out  in  close  beds,  and  put  in 
the  front  of  the  house,  should  bear  but  a  small  proportion 


42  Landscape  Gardening 

to  the  rest  of  the  garden  or  they  will  annihilate  all  semblance 
of  extent.  At  least  two-thirds  of  the  length  of  the  lawn, 
measuring  away  from  the  house,  should  be  free  from  such 
innovations.  And  if  three-fourths,  or  even  five-sixths,  of  it 
be  unencumbered  in  this  manner  there  will  be  greater  har- 
mony of  parts. 

Two  exceptions  to  the  application  of  this  doctrine  may 
probably  be  admitted.  Where  a  rich  pastured  country,  suf- 
ficiently spotted  with  timber  trees,  lies  in  front  of  a  place,  and 
by  the  skillful  treatment  of  the  boundary  fence  appears  to 
belong  to  the  owner,  a  strictly  formal  plan  of  the  garden  may 
be  eifective.  And  the  same  remark  will  apply  where  a  very 
picturesque  and  rugged  piece  of  natural  scenery  joins  on  to  a 
place.  [This  opinion  of  the  author  is  allowed  to  stand  on 
account  of  its  general  interest,  though  it  is  by  no  means 
shared  by  the  present  editor.] 

14.  Monotony. — ^  Akin  to  the  style  just  condemned  in  its 
relation  to  moderate-sized  gardens,  is  a  certain  baldness  and 
plainness,  which  may  likewise  exist  under  different  modes  of 
arrangement,  and  which,  more  than  almost  any  other  charac- 
teristic, contributes  to  make  a  place  appear  poor  and  unin- 
teresting. Where  the  space  will  at  all  justify  it, —  and  it  must 
be  restricted  indeed  if  it  will  not  do  so,  —  the  walks  and 
plants  can  be  so  disposed  as  to  afford  as  many  different  views 
as  possible.  From  no  single  point,  unless  it  be  an  elevated 
one,  should  every  part  be  seen.  A  lawn  need  not  be  like  a 
bowling-green,  with  a  simple  fringe  of  plantation,  but  should 
have  a  variety  of  minor  glades  and  recesses,  that  are  only  to 
be  discovered  and  examined  from  particular  points.  Bare- 
ness is  nearly  as  faulty  as  meretriciousness  of  ornament. 

Monotony  of  character  may  likewise  often  be  deepened  and 
confirmed  by  the  endeavor  to  bring  the  whole  of  the  garden 
too  much  into  one  level  or  slope.     In  the  formal  style,  some 


4^ 


■:tjs^^^  .''&M 


What  to  Avoid  43 

approximation  to  flatness  is  positively  required.  But  for 
irregular  gardens,  with  broken  groups  and  serpentine  walks, 
any  natural  undulations,  or  even  some  little  attempt  at  arti- 
ficial variety  of  surface,  will  be  a  decided  improvement 
to  a  garden  if  softly  and  appropriately  finished  off.  It  is 
customary,  however,  for  persons  who  do  not  study  the  subject 
to  commence  laying  out  their  gardens  by  making  all  the 
ground  as  level  as  possible.  A  more  unfortunate  error  could 
not  be  fallen  into,  for  character  might  be  better  obtained  by 
changes  of  level  than  by  almost  any  other  similar  means. 

15.  Needless  Drives.  —  In  the  treatment  of  a  small  place 
it  is  further  expedient  to  reject  everything  that  has  an  air 
of  ostentation  or  appears  only  proper  to  more  extensive 
domains.  In  many  instances,  therefore,  a  carriage  drive  to 
the  house,  although  often  very  convenient,  would  not  accord 
with  the  limits  of  a  garden  and  is  consequently  better 
omitted.  No  positive  rule  as  to  what  length  of  approach 
would  justify  the  use  of  a  drive  can  be  laid  down  but  in 
general  it  should  be  at  least  thirty  or  forty  yards.  How- 
ever, the  extent  of  the  entire  place  will  be  the  best  guide. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  a  carriage-drive  not  only 
looks  assuming,  but  it  tends  greatly  to  reduce  the  size  of  a 
small  garden  by  cutting  it  up  and  exhibiting  a  large  portion 
of  it  in  gravel.  From  the  pecuUar  color  of  the  latter,  it 
always  deceives  the  eye  as  to  the  extent  of  surface  it  covers; 
an  area  of  gravel  never  appearing  nearly  so  large  as  one  of 
equal  dimensions  laid  down  in  grass.  Green  is  at  once  more 
conspicuous  and  more  agreeable  to  the  sight.  And  grass 
possesses  these  qualities  at  all  seasons.  Hence,  to  make  the 
most  of  a  place  as  to  size,  broad  masses  of  gravel  should  be 
kept  out  of  a  cottage  or  villa  garden. 

Where  a  house  is  sufficiently  contiguous  to  the  high  road 
and  its  general  character  warrants  such  an  appendage,  an 


44  Landscape  Gardening 

entrance  court,  treated  architecturally  and  with  proper 
accompaniments  may  be  an  excellent  substitute  for  a  short 
drive;  and  in  this  case  a  large  graveled  area  with  perhaps 
bold  margins  of  grass,  a  few  evergreens  and  some  climbing 
plants  here  and  there  scrambling  over  the  walls  would  be 
wholly  unobjectionable. 

A  carriage-drive  that  would  pass  the  windows  of  any  of  the 
principal  rooms  of  a  house  or  terminate  nearly  in  front  of 
them  would  be  still  more  exposed  to  the  objections  here 
urged.  For  callers  or  visitors  to  have  to  pass  the  windows 
of  sitting-rooms  is  always  an  undesirable  arrangement  though 
this  has  sometimes  to  be  tolerated  from  a  variety  of  con- 
siderations. But  the  evil  is  much  aggravated  when  such  an 
approach  is  one  for  vehicles  also,  and  servants  as  well  as 
friends  have  thus  the  free  use  of  it.  Of  course  this  will 
depend  very  much  on  the  arrangement  of  the  house,  the  cor- 
rect position  of  the  entrance  door  being  a  matter  frequently 
overlooked  by  architects. 

i6.  Kitchen  Gardens.  —  Some  gardens  are  so  contracted 
or  of  such  a  peculiar  shape  that  the  appropriation  of  any 
part  of  them  to  vegetables  or  fruits  appears  quite  inconsistent 
with  the  attainment  of  any  kind  of  beauty  in  the  ornamental 
portions.  And  in  such  instances  the  kitchen  department 
may  very  properly  be  omitted.  A  mere  scrap  or  corner  of 
kitchen  garden  which  only  serves  to  mar  the  general  design 
can  afford  no  real  pleasure,  and  the  food  it  would  supply 
is  commonly  otherwise  easily  obtainable.  The  propriety  of 
devoting  a  piece  of  ground  to  these  purposes  will  depend 
more  on  the  general  figure  of  the  land  and  the  position 
and  arrangement  of  the  house  than  on  the  mere  size  of  the 
plot.  If  the  ground  lies  entirely  in  front  of  the  principal 
windows  and  is  but  narrow,  a  kitchen  garden  would  seem 
inadmissible  in  point  of  taste.     Besides,  kitchen  gardens  are 


What  to  Avoid  45 

usually  by  no  means  so  profitable  as  they  are  thought  to  be, 
and  must  be  regarded  more  as  a  luxury  than  a  source  of  saving. 
Vegetables  can  in  most  cases  be  purchased  more  cheaply 
than  they  can  be  grown,  and  it  is  merely  for  securing  their 
freshness,  and  the  pleasure  of  ha\dng  grown  them  that  a 
kitchen  garden  is  worth  consideration.  Herbs  and  salads  are 
alone  of  any  real  consequence,  since  it  is  very  convenient  to 
have  these  at  hand  for  any  emergency,  and  they  can  ordi- 
narily be  put  in  some  quiet  corner  of  the  grounds,  where  they 
will  not  obtrude  on  the  attention. 


CHAPTER  in 

General  Principles 

In  proceeding  to  the  various  points  which  the  designer  of  a 
garden  should  endeavor  to  compass,  as  far  as  the  nature  of 
the  locaHty  and  other  unavoidable  conditions  will  allow,  it 
may  be  well  to  premise  that  any  rules  here  furnished  can 
only  be  of  general  application.  It  is  obviously  impossible 
to  lay  down  principles  which  shall  embrace  every  case, 
and  hence  some  who  practice  landscape  gardening  depend 
mainly  on  their  eye  both  in  creating  and  judging  of  artificial 
scenery.  Doubtless,  too,  there  is  much  in  almost  every  gar- 
den which  requires  it  to  be  treated  peculiarly,  in  some  way 
or  other;  the  outline  and  surface  of  the  plot,  the  position, 
arrangement,  and  aspects  of  the  house,  and  the  requirements 
of  the  owner,  having  something  in  them  different  from  what 
they  are  in  any  other  place,  and  consequently  needing  a  cor- 
responding difference  of  treatment.  And  it  is  in  the  skillful 
use  and  blending  of  these  various  objects  and  purposes  that 
the  art  of  the  landscape  gardener  consists.  In  reference, 
therefore,  to  such  circumstances,  general  rules  would  seem 
at  first  sight  to  be  of  little  use,  or  an  actual  disadvantage, 
embarrassing  and  encumbering  rather  than  aiding  the  prac- 
titioner. 

But  the  advantage  of  fixed  principles,  even  in  the  most 
uncommon  and  complex  examples^  will  be  overlooked  only  on 
a  cursory  view.  Closer  observation  will  always  show  that, 
although  there  may  be  cases  in  which  no  recognized  law 
could  be  carried  out  in  its  naked  simplicity,  yet  some  modi- 
fication or  mixture  of  one  or  more  rules  must  be  adopted  in 
46 


General   Principles  47 

order  to  produce  any  really  good  effect,  and  that,  while  such 
a  result  may  be  accomplished  by  accident,  it  is  far  easier,  and 
more  satisfactory,  to  attain  it  by  design.  In  what  follows, 
then,  most  of  the  rules  given  will  be  found  more  or  less  appli- 
cable to  all  gardens  of  the  class  treated  of,  though  they  will 
often  require  much  consideration,  and  some  ability,  to  adapt 
them  to  pa  ticular  localities.  It  will,  however,  be  a  primary 
aim  to  render  them  as  suited  as  is  possible  to  the  condition 
of  the  majority  of  those  likely  to  consult  them. 

1.  Simplicity  is  the  first  thing  to  be  aimed  at  in  laying  out 
a  garden.  In  its  absence  there  can  be  no  indication  of  refined 
taste.  A  design  may  be  essentially  simple,  without  being 
bald  or  severe;  and  intricate,  without  becoming  labyrinthine. 
Simplicity  is  the  opposite  of  ostentation  and  extravagance; 
intricacy,  of  mere  blankness.  Simplicity  is  the  offspring  of 
the  highest  taste,  and  is  a  prime  element  in  pure  beauty. 
Not  that  it  altogether  characterizes  the  beauty  which  is, 
"when  unadorned,  adorned  the  most."  For  it  is  perfectly 
consistent  with  some  degree  of  chaste  ornament. 

A  garden  should  have  more  or  less  simplicity,  according  to 
its  size  and  character,  in  its  main  outlines,  arrangements,  and 
furniture.  The  transitions  in  it  should  all  be  easy  and  flow- 
ing, the  lines  all  graceful,  the  decorations  elegant.  Very 
rarely  will  a  small  garden  bear  being  furnished  with  any 
striking  evidences  of  wealth,  luxury,  or  elaboration.  The 
hand  of  art  should  touch  it  so  lightly  as  to  leave  few  traces 
of  its  operations.  Its  forms  and  figures  ought  all  to  be  gently 
rounded  off,  and  unite  softly  with  each  other.  Lawn  and 
gravel,  shrub,  tree,  and  flower,  with  all  the  less  common 
and  more  costly  appendages,  must  appear  to  belong  to  one 
another,  and  to  fit  into  the  place  in  which  they  occur. 

2.  Intricacy.  —  At  the  same  time,  the  intricacy  which 
arises  from  a  partial  and  pleasing  involution  of  parts,  from 


48  Landscape  Gardening 

slight  and  insensible  changes,  and  from  that  artful  arrange- 
ment of  single  plants  and  groups  which  produces  freshness  of 
aspect  and  newness  of  vista  from  so  many  different  points 
of  view,  must  not  be  neglected.  For  a  garden  may  be  all 
that  is  correct,  tasteful,  and  classical,  and  yet,  like  a  well- 
molded  countenance,  prove  dull,  tame,  and  void  of  expres- 
sion. It  is  play  of  feature,  — a  something  behind  and  beyond, 
which  has  not  been  explored,  —  novelty  of  expression,  varia- 
tion of  aspect,  an  alluring  attraction  onwards  after  higher 
beauties,  —  that  constitutes,  in  both  instances,  the  life,  the 
spirit,  and  the  charm.  Intricacy  is,  in  fact,  the  very  soul  of 
landscape  gardening. 

3.  Convenience  is  Hkewise  a  thing  which  requires  to  be 
duly  studied  and  provided  for.  As,  in  a  house,  a  beautiful 
exterior  will  never  compensate  for  defective  internal  accom- 
modation, so,  with  a  garden,  the  most  perfectly  tasteful  dispo- 
sition of  parts  will  never  give  real  satisfaction  if  comfort  and 
convenience  have  been  sacrificed.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  a  garden  is  intended  not  merely  to  be  looked  at  from  the 
windows  of  a  house  or  the  elevation  of  a  terrace-walk,  but  to 
be  used  and  to  be  enjoyed.  The  walks  should  therefore  pass 
as  easily  and  as  directly  to  their  appointed  objects  as  can  well 
be  accomplished,  and  they  should  be  dry  in  wet  weather  and 
smooth  during  drought.  The  land  must  also  be  well  drained, 
so  as  to  be  capable  of  being  worked  or  walked  upon  at  all 
times,.  Every  feature  of  interest  ought  always  to  be  com- 
fortably accessible.  A  flower  garden  and  a  greenhouse  should 
be  near  or  adjoining  the  house  for  the  sake  of  affording  the 
family  ready  means  of  examining  or  gathering  the  flowers. 
A  kitchen  garden  should  not  be  far  from  the  kitchen,  that 
the  produce  may  be  conveyed  to  the  "latter  with  little  labor, 
and  without  attracting  observation.  It  should  further  be 
placed  near  the  stable-yard,  that  manure  may  be  easily 


General  Principles  49 

moved  from  the  one  to  the  other.  And,  when  practicable, 
a  kitchen  garden  may,  on  one  side  at  least,  abut  upon  a  road 
or  lane,  that  soil,  manure,  etc.,  may  be  carted  to  it  at  any 
time. 

Places  for  preserving  tools  and  depositing  rubbish,  and 
means  for  obtaining  water  when  required,  back  paths  or 
roads  to  the  kitchen  and  offices,  space  for  drying  linen,  length- 
ened walks  round  a  paddock  for  exercise,  with  an  arbor  or 
summer  house  in  it  for  shelter  from  showers  or  storms,  and 
for  reading  and  retirement  at  other  periods,  are  some  of  the 
various  conveniences  which  should  be  taken  into  account 
in  laying  out  a  place,  especially  as  many  of  them  cannot 
be  obtained  at  all  unless  they  are  secured  in  the  first 
instance. 

4.  Compactness.  —  In  order  still  further  to  attain  the 
full  advantage  of  convenience  to  economize  space  and  labor, 
and  to  make  everything  appear  orderly  and  well-contrived, 
compactness  of  arrangement  will  be  particularly  influential. 
Nothing  tends  more  to  exhibit  a  want  of  design,  or  to  produce 
general  slovenHness,  than  a  scattered  and  ill-considered  dis- 
posal of  the  different  parts  of  a  place.  Each  department  that 
is  connected  with  another  —  and  all  should  be  but  parts  of  a 
combined  whole  —  ought  not  merely  to  adjoin  but  to  fit  into 
its  neighboring  department,  so  that  no  space  may  be  lost, 
no  untidy  corners  created,  and  no  unnecessary  expenditure 
occasioned  in  the  erection  of  walls  or  other  divisions.  In 
fact  each  wall  or  fence  in  the  interior  of  a  place  should, 
if  possible,  be  made  to  serve  a  double  purpose,  and  act  as  a 
boundary  to  two  separate  compartments,  or  form  a  part  of 
two  distinct  sets  of  buildings.  Thus,  the  wall  on  the  north 
side  of  a  kitchen  gardei>  may  be  made  to  constitute  one  of  the 
fences  to  a  house-yard,  a  garden-yard,  a  stable-court,  and 
even  a  small  farm-yard;  while  the  back  of  such  a  wall  might 


50  Landscape  Gardening 

also  be  used  to  support  various  low  lean-to  sheds,  that  may 
happen  to  be  needed  in  either  of  these  yards, 

5.  Seclusion.  —  Few  characteristics  of  a  garden  contribute 
more  to  render  it  agreeable  than  snugness  and  seclusion. 
They  serve  to  make  it  appear  peculiarly  one's  own,  convert- 
ing it  into  a  kind  of  sanctum.  A  place  that  has  neither 
of  these  quahties  might  almost  as  well  be  public  property. 
Those  who  love  their  garden  often  want  to  walk,  work,  rumi- 
nate, read,  romp,  or  examine  the  various  changes  and  develop- 
ments of  nature  in  it,  and  to  do  so  unobserved.  All  that 
attaches  us  to  a  garden,  and  renders  it  a  delightful  and  cher- 
ished object,  seems  marred  if  it  has  no  privacy.  It  is  a 
luxury  to  walk,  sit,  or  recline  at  ease,  on  a  summer's  day, 
and  drink  in  the  sights  and  sounds  and  perfumes  peculiar  to 
a  garden,  without  fear  of  interruption,  or  of  dress,  attitude, 
or  occupation  being  observed  and  criticized. 

Something  more,  however,  than  mere  privacy  is  involved 
in  the  idea  of  snugness.  It  includes  shelter,  warmth,  shade, 
agreeable  seats  for  rest,  arbors  for  a  rural  meal,  and  velvety 
slopes  of  turf,  overshadowed  or  variously  checkered  by  foliage, 
to  recline  upon.  A  room  that  may  fitly  be  called  snug  is 
small  in  its  dimensions,  and  rather  amply  furnished,  with  its 
window  not  open  at  any  point  to  the  public  gaze.  A  garden, 
likewise,  to  deserve  the  same  epithet,  should  have  its  princi- 
pal or  subordinate  parts  of  rather  contracted  limits,  be  fur- 
nished somewhat  liberally  with  tall-growing  plants  and  trees, 
which  will  produce  some  degree  of  shade  and  present  an  air 
of  comparative  isolation. 

Where  there  is  suflficient  extent,  it  is  probably  better  to  have 
one  or  more  small  nooks,  or  partially  detached  gardens  of  a 
particular  kind,  to  realize  something  of  both  snugness  and 
seclusion,  and  give  the  leading  and  broader  portions  of  the 
garden  a  more  airy  and  open  character.     Still,  in  any  case, 


General   Principles 


unless  it  be  purely  for  show,  a  certain  amount  of  privacy 
ought  assuredly  to  be  sought  after.  And  the  more  thoroughly 
it  is  gained,  the  more  pleasurable  to  most  persons,  and  the 
more  accordant  with  good  taste,  will  be  the  entire  production. 

6.  Unity  and  congruity  of  parts  are  probably  among  the 
easiest  things  to  attend  to,  yet  the  most  seldom  attained. 
Curved  walks  along  the  front  of  a  house,  —  figures,  vases, 
and  other  architectural  ornaments  in  a  different  style  to  that 
of  the  principal  building,  —  straight  walks  passing  off  ob- 
liquely from  other  straight  ones,  or  even  curved  lines  issuing 
from  or  crossing  straight  ones  at  an  oblique  angle,  —  a  mix- 
ture of  general  styles  of  treatment,  —  gay  roses  or  honey- 
suckles twining  around  funereal  pillars  or  urns,  —  the  most 
somber-looking  plants  placed  against  a  building  in  a  florid 
style -of  architecture, — -the  commonest  greenhouses  tacked  on 
to  structures  of  some  pretension  as  to  correctness  and  purity 
of  manner,  —  these,  and  a  variety  of  similar  incongruities, 
are  most  abundant  and  conspicuous  in  gardens. 

Taste,  on  the  other  hand,  dem.ands  that  there  should  be  a 
perfect  harmpny  between  the  various  portions  of  a  garden 
both  with  respect  to  each  other  and  to  its  buildings.  Every 
structure  ought  to  have  its  appropriate  garden  fittings,  to 
impart  or  preserve  to  it  its  proper  expression.  The  part  just 
around  a  house  should  be  treated  somewhat  architecturally 
or  formally,  and  the  transitions  from  this  to  the  more  distant 
portions  of  a  garden,  and  from  these  again  to  the  field,  and  so 
on  to  the  surrounding  country,  be  gradual  and  almost  imper- 
ceptible. And  where  any  sort  of  rusticity  or  picturesqueness 
is  wished  for,  or  some  other  feature  essentially  distinct  from 
those  which  characterize  the  garden  generally,  such  pieces 
ought  to  be  separated  from  the  rest  by  a  well-marked  though 
inartificial  division,  so  that  the  two  are  not  seen  together. 

Connection  and  order  are  the  universal  laws  of  nature,  and 


52  Landscape   Gardening 

can  seldom  be  safely  infringed  by  art.  Contrast,  it  is  true, 
may  sometimes  be  admitted  into  a  garden,  and  will  occa- 
sionally be  very  effective,  but  it  is  available  chiefly  in  small 
matters  of  detail,  such  as  the  colors  of  leaves  and  flowers, 
the  habits  of  plants,  their  heights,  etc.  Harmony  in  other 
things  is  of  far  more  consequence.  It  is  the  only  true  foun- 
dation of  greatness  or  excellence.  To  have  several  notable 
characteristics,  or  to  perform  many  things  well,  falls  to  the 
lot  of  very  few  individuals;  and  a  garden  that  affects  to  have 
more  than  one  marked  expression  or  tone,  is  too  frequently 
a  failure.  Unity,  however,  and  a  well-balanced  and  well- 
blended  adjustment  of  parts,  impart  to  it  a  weight  of  charac- 
ter and  a  dignity  of  aspect  which  are  sure,  in  the  end,  to  win 
for  it  esteem.  That  which  is  really  good  and  tasteful,  while 
it  is  certain  to  obtain  the  approbation  of  those  capable  of 
judging  it,  will  quite  as  surely  at  some  period,  however  remote, 
secure  the  suffrages  of  the  multitude.  An  inferior  object,  on 
the  contrary,  may  please  for  a  time,  but  will  speedily  grow 
distasteful.  It  is  only  for  true  beauty  that  a  lasting  and 
general  relish  is  excited. 

7.  Blending.  —  Isolation  of  parts  and  ornaments  is  the 
converse  of  connection,  and  would  be  quite  alien  to  all  beauty. 
Garden  decorations  mostly  require  supporting.  Nakedness  is 
commonly  repulsive  to  right  feeling  in  art,  drapery,  furniture, 
and  accompaniments  being  demanded.  The  bare  outline  of 
a  plantation,  or  a  solitary  specimen  or  group,  will  appear 
harsh  and  out  of  joint.  Openings  or  glades,  that  are  per- 
fectly simple  or  unfurnished,  also  present  a  certain  hardness 
and  severance  of  parts.  They  look  Hke  mere  gaps.  It  is  in 
the  artistic  distribution  of  plants  and  groups,  so  as  to  do 
away  with  continuity  of  lines,  and  blend  perceptibly  each 
individual  object  with  all  the  rest,  that  the  highest  power  of  a 
garden  or  other  scene  will  reside. 


General  Principles  53 

8.  Sjrmmetry. — That  a  palpable  attention  to  symmetry 
should  distinguish  gardens  laid  okit  in  a  formal  manner,  no 
one  will  dispute.  The  ridicule  conveyed  in  the  well-known 
^ouplet,  — 

"  Grove  nods  at  grove,  each  alley  has  a  brother, 
And  half  the  platform  just  reflects  the  other;  "  — 

is,  though  widely  circulated,  and  often  revived,  by  no  means 
to  be  admitted  as  the  test  of  truth.  Such  gardens  would  be 
nothing  unless  the  nicest  balance  was  preserved.  Symmetry 
and  regularity  are  their  very  essence,  as  well  as  that  of  archi- 
tecture, on  which  they  are  founded;  for  in  good  models  of  the 
most  irregular  buildings,  the  truest  adjustment  of  parts  is 
strictly  observed.  There  should  also  be  a  beautiful  balance 
maintained,  however  subtile  and  disguised  it  may  be,  in  the 
proportions  of  every  garden,  whatever  be  its  style.  Not  that 
the  same  description  of  objects  placed  in  similar  positions 
should  be  found  on  the  opposite  sides  of  gardens,  but  that 
their  general  effect  should  be  that  one  side  is,  as  a  whole, 
about  equal  to  the  other  in  height  and  breadth;  or,  at  least, 
that  such  an  impression  should  remain  on  the  mind  of  any 
one  glancing  over  the  two. 

9.  Gradation,  or  the -agreeable  transition  of  one  part  of  a 
garden  into  the  other,  without  any  decided  breaks,  or  marked 
interference  with  harmony,  should  always  be  striven  after,  as 
it  will  enable  the  designer  to  use  parts  of  different  styles  and 
a  variety  of  ornaments,  and  yet  preserve  enough  of  consis- 
tency and  smoothness.  But  the  gradation  to  which  I  would 
most  directly  advert  is  that  which  treats  the  different  parts 
of  a  place  as  so  many  ascending  steps,  until  the  highest  and 
best  points  are  reached.  As  in  a  house  the  exterior  should 
be  but  little  decorated,  the  vestibule  or  porch  plain,  the  hall 
only  a  trifle  more  ornate,  and  the  various  rooms  more  and 


54  Landscape  Gardening 

more  enriched,  till  the  saloon  or  drawing-room,  which  is  the 
most  showy  of  all,  is  arrived  at,  so,  in  the  outdoor  domain, 
the  exterior  look,  while  unexceptionable,  should  be  quiet  and 
by  no  means  attractive,  the  approach  private  and  not  adorned 
with  flowers,  the  pleasure  garden  a  little  more  enriched,  and 
the  front  of  the  house,  with  its  lawn  and  flower-beds  or  flower 
garden,  be  in  the  very  highest  style  of  art  and  beauty.  It 
may,  perhaps,  be  impossible  to  develop  this  system  of  arrange- 
ment fully,  in  consequence  of  the  shape,  size,  or  peculiar 
accessibility  of  the  land,  or  from  other  local  considerations. 
But  the  more  thoroughly  it  is  inwoven  into  the  plan  of  the 
place,  the  more  perfect  and  pleasurable  will  that  place  be 
made. 

Where  the  best  parts  of  a  garden  are  open  to  every  one 
who  approaches  from  the  outside  road  to  the  house,  there  is 
not  merely  no  privacy,  but  nothing  to  mark  any  distinction 
between  the  treatment  of  friends  and  casual  callers.  All  the 
delight  of  showing  the  former  round  the  garden,  and  reveal- 
ing its  more  sacred  and  elaborate  features,  is  completely  sacri- 
ficed if  they  can  see  them  before  reaching  the  house.  In  this 
respect,  a  garden  should  be  a  sort  of  practical  climax. 

10.  Apparent  Extent.  —  A  great  deal  of  ingenuity  is  often 
demanded  to  give  apparent  extent  to  a  place  that  is,  in  fact, 
extremely  small.  There  are  several  ways  of  contributing  to 
the  attainment  of  this.  Attention  to  some  of  the  points 
already  discussed  will  partly  accomplish  it.  If  a  garden  be 
simple  in  its  plan,  there  will  be  a  good  deal  of  open  space  in  it, 
and  a  dash  of  intricacy  will  rather  heighten  than  diminish 
such  an  effect.  Harmony  of  parts  will  further  maintain  the 
idea  of  size,  for,  where  everything  is  linked  together  to  form 
a  united  whole,  there  will  be  none  of  that  distractedness  of 
attention  and  division  of  interest  which  tend  to  make  a 
small  place  appear  still  smaller.     Repose  is  indispensable  to 


General   Principles  ^^ 

the  production  of  an  appearance  of  extent  in  a  narrow  com- 
pass, and  unless  everything  conspires  to  maintain  the  idea, 
no  attempt  to  awaken  it  will  be  successful. 

Breadth  of  lawn  must  be  fully  attained  before  any  notion 
of  extent  can  be  conveyed.  A  garden  will  always  look  meager 
without  a  good  open  lawn.  One  broad  glade  of  grass  should, 
therefore,  stretch  from  the  best  windows  of  the  house  to 
within  a  short  distance  of  the  boundary,  with  as  httle  inter- 
ruption from  walks  as  possible.  The  plants  and  groups  may 
be  ranged  irregularly  on  either  side  of  this  opening,  and, 
where  the  space  will  permit,  there  may  be  smaller  glades 
through  and  among  these  at  varied  intervals.  If  such  a 
broad  glade  of  greensward  can  be  had  on  two  or  even  three 
sides  of  the  house,  the  effect  of  size  will  be  still  more  fully 
realized. 

The  openness  here  advocated  must  not  on  any  account  be 
converted  into  plainness.  There  is  no  more  common  error 
than  to  suppose  that  a  place  which  has  simple  borders  along 
two  or  three  of  its  sides,  and  the  enclosed  area  entirely  un- 
furnished, presents  the  best  possible  representation  of  size. 
Because  a  very  small  space,  such  as  a  room,  will  appear  larger 
for  being  nearly  or  quite  empty,  it  must  not  be  assumed  that 
a  garden  is  to  be  judged  similarly  On  the  contrary,  a 
simple  area,  which  is  taken  in  by  the  eye  at  one  glance,  invites 
attention  to  the  sharpness  of  its  boundaries.  That  which 
requires  no  mental  effort  to  understand  and  embrace  will 
never  seem  extensive  unless  of  gigantic  proportions.  The 
notion  of  size  is  not  to  be  realized,  within  straitened  limits, 
by  mere  simplicity.  It  is  indefiniteness  alone,  —  the  giving 
the  eye  a  number  of  points  to  rest  upon,  and  recesses  to 
explore,  and  the  imagination  a  field  for  its  active  exercise,  — 
that  can  produce  the  required  result.  What  we  measure 
piece  by  piece,  through  a  lengthened  process,  will  always  be 


56  Landscape  Gardening 

considered  larger  than  that  which  strikes  upon  the  vision 
at  once,  in  all  its  proportions. 

Where  there  is  an  opportunity  of  connecting  a  lawn  with 
the  field  or  park  by  means  of  a  sunk  fence,  and  keeping  the 
park  closely  fed  down,  so  as  always  pretty  nearly  to  resemble 
the  lawn,  the  place  will  be  much  enlarged  in  appearance. 
Even  the  existence  of  a  wire  fence  to  separate  the  two,  instead 
of  a  sunk  wall,  will  not  very  materially  lessen  the  result  sought 
to  be  produced  by  this  union  of  parts.  But  the  edge  of  the 
lawn  and  that  of  the  outlying  park  ought  to  be  about  on  the 
same  level,  for  if  the  earth  be  raised  on  the  top  of  the  sunk 
wall,  or  on  the  upper  edge  of  the  slope  from  the  bottom  of  the 
wall  into  the  park,  the  eye  will  be  prevented  from  traveling 
smoothly  and  continuously  across  the  two  surfaces,  the  divi- 
sion line  will  be  more  or  less  harsh,  and  some  of  the  actual 
space  will  be  concealed  by  the  raised  bank  or  darkened  by  its 
shadow. 

To  make  an  open  glade  of  lawn  appear  still  larger  than  it  is, 
the  expedient  of  turfing  closely  around  the  plants  and  masses 
along  its  margin  may  be  adopted.  It  has  previously  been 
stated  that  an  object  of  one  color,  and  that  a  green  one,  ac- 
quires a  striking  apparent  augmentation  of  size.  And  if  the 
plants  that  flank  an  open  lawn  are  principally  evergreens, 
and  their  branches  sweep  the  grass,  without  any  soil  being 
visible,  the  space  is  thereby  very  much  expanded  in  appear- 
ance. 

What  has  just  been  said  as  to  the  effect  of  a  single  and 
uniform  color  in  giving  breadth  of  effect,  will  apply  moreover 
to  the  injunction  now  added  that  all  walks  should,  as  far  as  is 
practicable,  be  concealed  from  the  house.  This  can  be  done 
in  great  measure  by  using  plants  of  very  various  heights, 
whether  in  groups  or  as  specimens,  and,  more  rarely,  by  rais- 
ing the  grounds  lightly  towards  the  walk  and  then  dropping 


General  Principles  ^y 

it  rather  suddenly  within  a  few  inches  of  its  edge.  The 
mode  of  effecting  this  may  be  seen  in  fig.  lo,  which  is  a  section 
of  a  lawn  falling  away  from  the  house,  and  crossed  by  a 
sunk  walk,  the  dotted  line  over  the  latter  showing  what  the 
level  would  be  if  the  walk  were  not  there  or  not  depressed. 
Where  plants  would  be  out  of  place  on  account  of  breaking 
up  a  glade,  or  spoiling  a  vista,  or  intruding  upon  a  recess, 
this  raising  of  the  ground  for  some  distance  to  a  uniform 
height,  or  giving  it  a  very  gentle  undulation  to  cover  a  walk, 
may  be  successfully  adopted.  It  should  be  recollected,  how- 
ever, that,  as  before  hinted,  any  portion  of  a  lawn  that  is 
raised  takes  off  several  inches  or  feet  from  the  view  of  the 


Fig.  lo.      Method  of  Grading  for  Walks. 

part  behind.  And  this  consideration  should  suffice  to  keep 
such  banks  down  to  the  lowest  level  consistent  with  the  ful- 
fillment of  their  design. 

At  any  point  in  which  there  is  a  great  change  in  the  line 
of  a  walk,  or  other  walks  branch  from  it,  there  is  a  special 
necessity  for  having  a  mass  of  shrubs  or  some  other  opaque 
medium  to  shut  out  such  abrupt  transitions  from  the  house 
and  the  rest  of  the  grounds.  Sudden  turns  or  breaks  should, 
if  necessary  at  all,  be  accomplished  quietly  and  privately, 
being  at  least  screened  from  notice  until  they  are  actually 
reached.  Besides,  the  point  from  which  a  branch  walk 
diverges  requires  concealing  for  the  additional  reason  that 
the  eye  might  otherwise  travel  from  the  house  or  lawn  some 
distance  along  this  branch  line,  and  a  walk  that  can  be  thus 


Landscape  Gardening 


seen  lengthwise  is  more  conspicuous  and  offensive  than  one 
of  which  only  a  cross  view  is  obtained. 

Another  motive  for  keeping  walks  retired  and  out  of  sight 
which  may  here  be  mentioned,  though  it  does  not  so  much 
affect  the  question  of  extent,  is  that  they  may  be  more  private 
and  shaded,  less  liable  to  be  overlooked,  more  cool  and 
refreshing  in  summer,  and  warmer  and  more  sheltered  in 
winter.  By  passing  along  them,  too,  when  they  are  thus 
secluded,  the  various  views  of  the  place  which  occur  at  the 
many  openings  that  may  be  left  give,  by  reason  of  their 
number  and  diversity,  a  more  exalted  impression  of  size. 
When  persons  walk  in  their  gardens,  and  choose  the  paths 
for  the  purpose,  they  will  usually  desire  to  be  to  a  certain 
extent  unseen,  so  that  their  motions  and  occupation  may  not 
be  the  subject  of  observation  or  comment, 
'  One  of  the  best  methods  of  adding  to  the  apparent  limits 
of  a  place  is  to  get  rid  of  anything  like  obvious  or  glaring 
boundary  lines.  This  can  be  done  by  planting,  throwing  up 
mounds  of  earth,  the  use  of  very  light  and  low  fences,  sunken 
walls,  the  treatment  of  a  low  wall  as  an  architectural  feature, 
the  covering  of  a  dwarf  rough  wall  with  ivy,  and  letting  this 
straggle  out  from  it  wildly  and  irregularly,  by  broken  thickets 
of  common  shrubbery,  or  by  a  mixture  of  several  of  these 
things.  The  worst  and  ugliest  species  of  fence,  where  it  is 
much  seen,  is  a  plain  wall,  especially  if  it  be  high,  a  close 
wooden  paling,  unless  it  be  quite  a  rough  one,  of  split  oak,  or 
a  hedge  that  is  kept  regularly  clipped.  All  these  present  a 
formality,  hardness,  and  liny  character,  which  are  continually 
making  themselves  conspicuous,  and  there  is  no  losing  the 
consciousness  of  a  near  and  disagreeable  boundary  when  it  is 
composed  of  such  materials. 

It  should  be  observed  that,  as  few  places  offer  facilities  for 
getting  rid  of  the  boundary  line  entirely  at  all  points  without 


General  Principles  59 

a  regular  enclosure  of  plantation,  there  is  little  objection  to  its 
appearing  occasionally,  provided  it  does  not  stand  forth  too 
prominently  or  present  any  positively  bad  features.  The 
chief  point  is  to  keep  any  length  of  it  from  exhibiting  itself, 
and  to  procure,  in  the  spaces  that  come  between  such  exposed 
portions  of  it,  sufficient  connection  with  what  is  beyond  to 
dismiss  all  semblance  of  a  continuous  boundary  fence  in  that 
direction. 

The  subject  of  the  concealment  of  the  fences  of  a  place 
is  one  of  considerable  moment,  and  will  be  more  definitely 
and  practically  treated  on  a  future  page.  At  present,  the 
enforcement  of  principles  only  is  sought. 

Still  further  to  carry  out  and  complete  the  idea  of  extending 
the  limits  of  a  garden,  good  and  beautiful  scenery  or  objects 
outside  the  place  should  be  brought  as  much  and  as  conspicu- 
ously as  possible  into  view,  and  all  vulgar,  deformed,  or 
disagreeable  things,  or  such  as  do  not  appear  to  belong  to  the 
property  or  to  be  fitting  adjuncts,  be  thoroughly  excluded. 
In  the  latter  class,  common  houses  or  cottages,  outbuildings, 
neighbors'  residences  which  are  very  near  or  staring,  high 
or  ugly  fences  on  an  adjoining  property,  public  buildings 
that  are  not  in  good  taste,  agreeable,  or  striking,  will  fur- 
nish a  few  illustrations.  They  are  to  be  shut  out  in  various 
ways,  according  to  their  height,  position  with  respect  to  the 
best  front  of  the  house,  and  nearness.  For  hiding  large 
buildings,  one  or  two  leading  points  of  observation  may  be 
selected,  of  which  the  drawing-room  windows  of  the  house 
should  invariably  be  the  principal,  and  the  object  to  be 
gained  should  be  attempted  in  relation  to  these.  It  is 
hopeless  to  seek  to  darken  one  or  more  great  eye-sores  from 
every  part  of  the  grounds,  for  in  so  doing  the  most  beautiful 
views  may  be  intercepted  from  the  better  and  more  important 
stations. 


6o  Landscape  Gardening 

One  simple  rule  of  perspective  should  never  be  forgotten 
in  dealing  with  ugly  masses  of  buildings  that  are  both  high 
and  near.  It  is  that  the  nearer  we  bring  to  our  point  of 
vision  any  object  that  we  wish  to  interpose  between  ourselves 
and  another  object,  the  larger  will  be  the  surface  of  the  latter, 
both  as  regards  breadth  and  height,  that  we  screen  from  view. 
A  reference  to  this  fact  will  often  enable  the  operator  to 
accomplish  a  good  deal  with  scanty  materials  and  to  do  it  at 
once.  Very  large  trees,  for  instance,  are  not  always  possessed 
or  to  be  procured,  and  if  planted  they  may  not  thrive  so  well 
as  others  of  a  lower  growth.     The  knowledge  of  the  above 


Fig.  II.      Practical  Perspective. 

truth,  however,  will  render  the  use  of  the  smaller  ones  as  per- 
fectly and  as  immediately  effectual  as  the  larger  would  be  in 
a  more  distant  position.  And  in  this  way  a  moderate-sized 
evergreen  may  be  made  to  answer  a  purpose  which  a  tree  of 
great  magnitude  would  scarcely  be  sufficient  for  in  another 
place.  It  need  hardly  be  said  that  evergreens  are  much  more 
suitable  for  the  office,  where  they  can  be  had  large  enough,  as 
they  do  the  work  well  at  all  seasons  of  the  year.  It  should 
be  added,  that  any  extreme  application  of  the  rule  would 
probably  bring  the  trees  employed  too  close  to  the  house,  or 
too  much  on  the  lawn,  both  of  which  have  to  be  shunned. 
The  sketch,  fig.  ii,  inserted  here  will  suffice  to  convey  the 


General  Principles  6i 

necessary  idea  of  what  is  intended.  The  dotted  Hne,  taken 
from  a  window  as  the  point  of  view,  will  make  it  evident  that 
a  bush  is  just  as  useful  when  sufficiently  near  as  a  large  tree 
in  a  more  remote  position.  And  it  may  be  mentioned  that 
where  the  ground  falls  away  from  the  point  of  vision  towards 
an  object  that  is  to  be  shut  out,  the  application  of  this  prin- 
ciple is  still  more  striking. 

Such  deformities  in  a  landscape  as  are  somewhat  distant, 
and  either  not  actually  large,  or  which,  from  their  remoteness, 
do  not  appear  to  cover  much  space,  may  at  times  be  appro- 
priately blotted  out  by  a  neat  greenhouse  or  summer  seat,  a 
small  temple,  or  any  architectural  feature  akin  to  these.  In 
connection  with  a  flower  garden,  too,  the  same  point  may  be 
compassed  by  a  colonnaded  wall,  an  ornamental  or  treUised 
covered  way,  an  architecturally  treated  wall  for  chmbers,  or 
a  short  range  of  glass  houses.  But  ornaments  of  this  class  are 
fitted  only  for  peculiar  positions  and  styles  of  architecture,  to 
which  they  require  skillful  adapting. 

There  are  certain  features  to  be  met  with  in  some  land- 
scapes, which,  though  not  in  themselves  inelegant  or  defi- 
cient in  beauty  and  interest,  may  have  their  character  and 
effect  very  much  improved  by  the  way  in  which  they  are 
made  visible  from  a  place.  Such  are  church  towers  and 
spires,  fig.  12,  pillars  and  obelisks,  distant  and  pretty  cottages, 
prospect  and  flag  towers,  ruins,  lighthouses,  windmills,  and 
many  other  more  commonplace  erections,  which  may  yet, 
from  their  position,  their  outline,  or  their  historical  or  local 
associations,  be  worth  directing  attention  to  particularly. 
The  most  characteristic  and  effective  plan  of  introducing 
such  to  view  is  by  openings  in  the  intermediate  or  boundary 
plantations,  which  shall  create  a  kind  of  vista  at  the  end  of 
which  the  object  intended  to  be  seen  occurs.  If  the  sides  of 
such  vistas  are  tastefully  and  naturally  finished  off,  without 


62 


Landscape  Gardening 


any  appearance  of  formality  or  indication  of  art,  and  the 
trees  in  the  outer  landscape  at  all  favor  the  design,  very 
beautiful  effects  may  be  produced  in  this  manner  out  of  the 
most  ordinary  materials. 


Fig.  12.      Vista  Showing  Distant  View. 


Broader  sweeps  of  landscape,  when  the  nature  of  the  sur- 
rounding property  sanctions  their  introduction,  will  of  course 
require  to  be  treated  differently.  It  will  not  do  to  cut  them 
into  shreds,  or  exhibit  them  in  mere  patches  alone.  Never- 
theless, very  bold  ranges  of  uninterrupted  scenery,  however 
fine,  are  almost  incompatible  with  the  confinement  of  a  small 


General  Principles  63 

garden.  For  the  very  amplitude  and  grandeur  of  such  scenes 
serve  to  render  the  meagerness  of  the  home  view  all  the  more 
marked  and  inconsistent.  In  addition  to  which,  it  may  be 
assumed,  as  a  sort  of  rule,  that  every  landscape,  distant  or 
otherwise,  should  have  a  distinct  foreground,  and  that  this 
should  be  obtained  within  the  home  estate  and  tolerably 
near  the  principal  points  of  observation.  So  that  to  create 
such  a  foreground  it  will  be  needful  to  separate  the  prospect 
into  two,  three,  or  more  divisions.  And  if  this  be  happily 
executed,  omitting  merely  the  tamest  portions,  and  making 
the  openings  of  various  widths,  with  very  differently  shaped 
plants  or  groups  to  compose  the  framework  of  the  picture,  a 
result  more  consonant  with  the  character  of  the  place,  and 
more  attractively  beautiful  though  less  imposing,  will  be 
realized  than  if  the  whole  had  been  left  to  its  native  boldness 
and  breadth. 

The  treatment  of  foregrounds  may  be  exempHfied  however 
imperfectly,  in  figs.  13  and  14,  the  former  of  v/hich  represents 
a  foreground  to  a  flattish  and  quiet  landscape,  and  the  other 
to  a  lake  or  the  sea.  In  all  these  cases,  the  materials  of 
which  the  foregroimd  is  composed  are  natural  ones,  and  are 
treated  in  the  natural  manner.  Of  course,  however,  different 
kinds  of  ornamental  fences  might  enter  largely  into  the  com- 
position and  become  characteristic  elements  of  the  scene. 

This  principle  of  dividing  a  large  landscape  into  several 
portions,  in  relation  to  a  place  of  narrow  Umits,  by  the  intro- 
duction of  very  irregular  masses  of  trees  and  shrubs  along  or 
near  its  front  boundary,  may  be  yet  further  developed  and 
applied  to  cases  in  which  only  such  smaller  scenes  can  be 
admitted.  For  the  treatment  of  both  would  be  the  same,  and 
the  effects  of  each  would  be  alike  suitable  and  desirable. 
Examples  will  not  be  unfrequent  where  snatches  of  delicious 
scenery  can  be  gleaned  with  the  aid  of  much  contrivance  here 


64  Landscape  Gardening 

and  there  around  the  best  sides  of  a  house,  the  intervals  being 
wholly  blocked  up  with  something  beyond  the  owner's  ter- 
ritory and  control.  Only  let  it  be  established  that  these 
glimpses  or  partial  views  of  outlying  beauties  are  those  most 
proper  to  the  accident  of  having  but  a  small  garden,  that 
they  best  accord  with  its  necessary  internal  arrangements, 
and  most  forcibly  enhance  its  own  apparent  size,  and  so  far 


Fig.  13.     Treatment  of  Flat  Foreground. 

from  such  conditions  being  the  subjects  of  chagrin  and  vexa- 
tion they  will  be  hailed  rather  as  felicitous  and  appropriate. 
What  a  person  guided  by  the  highest  taste  would  endeavor 
to  effect  were  there  no  restrictions  and  impediments,  it  can 
surely  be  no  disadvantage  to  another  to  be  compelled  to  sub- 
mit to. 

In  its  fitness  for  awakening  and  fixing  the  attention,  the 
separation  of  a  country  scene  into  several  minor  portions, 


General   Principles  65 

instead  of  exhibiting  it  all  at  once,  may  be  a  little  longer 
dilated  upon.  There  are  few  natural  pictures,  except  such  as 
are  very  fine  and  commanding,  which  do  not  lose  their  power 
of  attraction  in  the  precise  ratio  of  their  breadth.  That  which 
is  gazed  upon  through  a  variety  of  comparatively  narrow 
openings,  though  only  just  above  commonplace,  will  win 
more  notice  than  if  it  lay  before  the  observer  in  its  naked 
expanse.  And  as  we  pass  along  behind  a  screen  that  is  grace- 
fully unfolded,  as  it  were,  at  intervals,  to  reveal  to  us  frag- 
ments of  landscape,  curiosity  is  excited  to  catch  those  poirits 
hidden  by  the  opaque  portions  of  the  screen  and  an  extreme 
diversity  of  prospect  is  gained. 

Whether  the  plantations  between  different  openings,  made 
to  exhibit  a  pleasing  landscape,  be  the  result  of  necessity,  to 
hide  what  is  objectionable,  or  of  choice,  to  heighten  and 
impart  variety  to  the  pictures  intermediately  displayed,  their 
outlines  and  edges  alike  require  to  be  most  carefully  and  artis- 
tically treated.  Not  that  this  should  be  artificially  done, 
but  with  such  refined  and  delicate  art  that  it  shall  appear  as 
if  nature  herself  had  polished  them  off.  Roundness,  and  yet 
irregularity,  play  of  outline,  an  intermixture  of  evergreen  and 
deciduous  plants,  forest  trees,  tree-like  shrubs,  and  such  as 
are  decidedly  shrubby,  with  variety  of  form  and  color,  should 
be  their  chief  characteristics. 

When  any  broad  sheet  of  water,  such  as  the  sea,  a  large 
river,  or  a  lake,  forms  the  principal  object  from  the  front  of  a 
house,  or  from  some  point  in  the  garden,  the  value  of  a  good 
irregular  woody  foreground,  fig.  14,  will  be  even  more 
apparent.  A  great  glare  of  water  is  seldom  agreeable  to  the 
sight,  and  in  some  kinds  of  weather  may  be  most  disagree- 
able or  melancholy.  The  passage  across  it  of  vessels  of  all 
sorts  likewise  becomes  far  more  interesting  and  delightful 
when  it  is  only  to  be  observed  at  intervals  and  is  occasionally 


66 


Landscape  Gardening 


lost  sight  of.  If  water  be  looked  at  through  a  leafy  screen, 
it  is,  moreover,  in  some  degree  sobered  down  thereby.  It 
does  not  dazzle  or  pain  the  eye  so  much.  It  has  all  the 
charm  of  light  and  shadow.     Its  own  luster  and  lovehness 


wC 


'^. 


Fig.  14.     Treatment  of  Foreground  with  Water  View. 


are  brightened  by  the  contrast.     It  is  a  gem  with  a  dark 
setting. 

There  may  be  states  of  the  atmosphere  in  which  a  large 
unfurnished  expanse  of  water  will  be  perfectly  satisfactory. 
On  a  rich  summer's  evening,  towards  sunset  or  during  twi- 
light, especially  after  warm  showers,  water  may  often  be  in 


General   Principles  67 

the  highest  degree  beautiful  without  any  accompaniment. 
But  in  general  it  will  either  be  too  glittering  or  too  cold  to  be 
altogether  satisfying  without  some  aid  from  trees  as  a  fore- 
ground. It  is  wise,  therefore,  to  provide  for  common  and 
usual  enjoyment,  and  to  leave  extraordinary  pleasures  to  be 
otherwise  obtained.  The  scene  that  is  most  pleasing  at  all 
seasons  of  the  year  will  undoubtedly  furnish  the  largest 
amount  of  gratification,  and  make  a  habitation  most  cheerful. 

II.  Richness  and  Polish.  —  Nothing  imparts  a  greater  air 
of  refinement  and  gentihty  to  a  garden  than  a  certain  amount 
of  richness  and  polish.  The  first  of  these  may  be  attained 
by  means  of  a  tasteful  selection  of  plants  and  flowers,  and 
by  the  sparing  use  of  appropriate  architectural  decorations. 
PoHsh  is  more  a  matter  that  relates  to  the  mechanical  execu- 
tion of  the  design.  Still,  it  may  be  advanced  a  step  higher, 
and  applied  to  the  expression  as  well  as  the  finish.  In  the 
outHnes  of  figures  and  beds,  in  the  arrangement  of  plants, 
and  in  the  shaping  of  the  ground,  much  may  be  done  to 
create  this  delicate  grace.  Everything  straggUng  or  ragged, 
all  that  produces  confusion,  and  as  a  rule  all  angularity  and 
harshness  are  completely  opposed  to  it.  Extreme  smooth- 
ness, easiness  of  transitions,  gracefulness  of  lines,  softness  of 
undulation,  lightness  and  elegance  of  ornament,  are  some  of 
its  leading  manifestations. 

Both  richness  and  polish  will,  to  a  certain  extent,  be  the 
result  of  keeping,  as  well  as  attention  to  matters  of  detail  in 
the  first  formation.  A  place  can  never  possess  either,  unless 
the  taste  shown  in  the  design  be  carried  into  the  minutest 
details  of  the  execution,  and  be  maintained  by  subsequent 
care  and  correct  feeling.  Hard  deep  edges  to  the  walks  and 
borders,  slopes  or  undulations  which  unite  with  the  general 
level  by  a  convex  instead  of  a  concave  line,  and  little  irregu- 
larities in  the  surface  of  a  lawn,  are  quite  incompatible  with 


68  Landscape  Gardening 

high  poUsh;  as  extreme  thinness  of  plants  in  beds,  poverty 
and  weakness  of  masses  or  specimens,  large  staring  patches  of 
bare  soil  visible  in  the  borders  or  beds  skirting  a  lawn,  an 
inferior  order  of  plants  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  house  or 
by  the  sides  of  the  grass  glades,  and  the  use  of  commonplace 
or  uncongenial  ornaments,  are  inconsistent  with  richness. 

12.  To  conceal  the  offices  and  out-buildings  belonging  to 
a  residence  is  a  matter  of  the  most  ordinary  kind,  yet  it  may 
be  very  clumsily  effected.  Planting  is  in  general  the  most 
effectual  means.  It  should  not,  however,  be  carried  so  close  to 
the  building  as  to  darken  the  windows  materially  or  occasion 
dampness.  And  that  this  may  be  attended  to  without  intrud- 
ing too  much  upon  the  space  of  the  garden,  the  arrangement 
of  the  house  must  be  adjusted  accordingly.  A  good  deal,  in 
short,  will  depend  upon  the  architect.  Perhaps  it  is  best, 
when  the  servants'  apartments  are  on  the  ground  floor,  to 
keep  them  wholly  on  the  least  important  side  of  the  building 
as  regards  aspect  and  scenery,  and  have  their  windows  looking 
for  the  most  part  into  the  house-yard,  which  can  then  be 
easily  planted  out.  If  treated  as  an  inferior  wing  to  the 
house,  they  should  always  recede  far  enough  from  the  prin- 
cipal elevation  to  give  space  for  the  admission  of  light  and 
air  between  them  and  the  plantation  or  whatever  else  is  used 
for  screening  them. 

13.  Variety.  —  I  come  now  to  the  consideration  of  that 
very  essential  element  in  the  composition  of  a  landscape,  — 
variety.  This  has  been  happily  termed  "the  spice  of  life," 
since  without  it  existence  has  no  true  relish.  And  its  influ- 
ence in  landscape  gardening  is  equally  potent,  for  it  gives  a 
vivacity,  a  freshness  and  a  piquancy  which  nothing  else  will 
supply.  It  is  the  crowning  grace  that  makes  even  uncouth- 
ness  tolerable,  and  invests  beauty  with  superior  attractions. 
Sameness  is  but  another  word  for  feebleness,  variety  for 


General  Principles  69 

power.  It  is  that  for  which  man  has  a  kind  of  innate  and 
insatiable  thirst,  to  wliich  nature  is  perpetually  ministering. 
Whoever  saw  the  sky  dappled  or  tinted  in  exactly  the  same 
manner,  or  a  plant  or  tree  developing  itself  precisely,  part 
for  part,  as  another  does?  No  two  natural  landscapes  could 
ever  be  found  aUke  in  all  particulars.  In  stream,  and  forest, 
and  mountain,  with  all  their  shades  of  modification,  and 
minuteness  of  detail,  there  is  a  wonderful  dearth  of  near 
resemblances  or  more  than  general  relations.  It  is  the  prov- 
ince of  art  to  consult  and  to  weigh  these  indications  of 
nature  and  the  corresponding  tastes  in  man,  and  to  derive 
lessons  from  the  one  and  endeavor  to  gratify  the  other. 

Variety  may  be  partly  obtained  in  gardens  by  curved 
walks.  If  we  observe  from  some  elevation  the  course  of  a 
small  river  with  its  numerous  and  varied  meanderings,  or 
folio  .V  the  devious  track  of  a  wild  forest  path,  we  shall  soon 
be  convinced  of  this.  It  is  the  graceful  contortion  of  line 
that  at  once  pleases  the  eye  and  stimulates  the  fancy,  — 
carries  the  observer  onward,  and  continually  rewards  him 
with  fresh  beauties.  But  as  neither  a  small  stream  nor  a 
forest  path  will  be  nearly  so  alluring  when  a  number  of  their 
convolutions  are  spread  out  in  one  view,  as  they  would  be 
were  it  necessary  to  pursue  their  course  in  order  to  discover 
each  particular  turn  and  pry  into  its  individual  charms,  so  a 
curved  walk  in  vv^hich  several  of  the  curves  are  seen  at  once, 
or  where  they  very  much  resemble  each  other  in  sweep,  loses 
the  chief  and  most  engaging  part  of  its  variety.  It  is  of 
prime  concern,  therefore,  that  the  curves  in  a  walk  should  be 
varied  as  much  as  they  can  be  (fig.  15),  and  that  they  should 
not  be  exposed  to  each  other  at  any  point.  The  views  to  be 
caught  from  the  numerous  stages  in  the  turns  of  such  a  walk 
should  embrace  every  good  aspect  of  the  house,  the  garden 
itself,  and  the  adjoining  country. 


70 


Landscape  Gardening 


To  prevent  the  curves  in  a  serpentine  walk  being  visible 
from  one  another,  groups  composed  pretty  liberally  of  ever- 
greens are  most  customary.  They  will  of  course  be  prin- 
cipally wanted  at  or  near  the  hollows  of  the  curves,  though 
it  would  be  unwise  always  to  put  them  just  at  the  extreme 


Fig.  15.     Treatment  of  Curved  Walk. 


center,  because,  in  those  turns  that  sweep  away  from  the  lawn 
especially,  the  greatest  depth  of  grassy  bay  may  there  be  pro- 
cured. Figs.  15  and  16  will  assist  in  explaining  this.  And 
one  merit  in  the  management  of  such  things  will  be  in  making 
the  position,  outline,  and  character  of  the  groups  extremely 
different. 


General  Principles 


71 


Other  modes  of  shutting  out  one  curve  of  a  walk  from 
another  are  the  formation  of  a  swell  in  the  ground ;  a  group  of 
rocks  or  roots,  thrown  together  rudely,  and  partially  planted 


Fig.  16.     Grouping  Shrubs  along  a  Walk. 

with  low  evergreens  and  alpines;  a  covered  seat  or  summer- 
house,  backed,  if  needs  be,  with  masses  of  shrubs;  or  two  or 
three  specimen  plants,  or  a  tolerably  large  and  spreading 
tree. 

And  here  the  remark  naturally  oc-  ^ 

curs,  that  variety  may  be  further 
attained  by  placing  single  plants  and 
groups  on  a  lawn.  See  fig.  17.  In 
doing  this,  everything  like  straight- 
ness  and  formality  is  specially  to  be 
discarded.  The  size  and  shape  of 
the  groups,  while  they  are  in  due 
measure  adapted  to  the  lines  of  the 
walks,  can  scarcely  be  too  unlike, 
provided  the  changes  in  their  shape  be  not  extravagantly 
numerous,   trifling,   or   violent.     There    should   be   enough 


Fig.  17.  T3T)ical  Group. 


72  Landscape  Gardening 

planting  to  furnish  a  lawn,  and  shut  up  the  walks  here  and 
there  in  order  to  produce  freshness,  but  not  so  many  as  to 
encumber  and  cramp  the  place.  A  few  good,  bold  openings 
between  them,  where  the  space  is  small,  will  be  better  than  a 
great  number  of  petty  ones.  And  all  such  openings  should 
be  carried  as  far  as  is  at  all  practicable  into  the  surrounding 
or  outside  border,  that  the  eye  may  be  required  to  explore 
them  and  not  scan  them  in  a  moment. 

In  the  old-fashioned  systems  of  gardening  it  is  usual  to 
place  all  the  dwarf-growing  plants  at  the  front  of  the  bed  or 
border,  and  those  of  greater  height  behind  them,  reserving 
the  taller  and  more  stately  forms  for  the  center  or  the  back. 
A  regular  slope  of  branches  and  foliage  is  thus  occasioned 
which  has  the  most  perfectly  artificial  appearance  that  can 
be  imagined.  It  is  of  course  utterly  subversive  of  all  variety 
and  may  be  likened  in  form  to  the  sloping  roof  of  a  house, 
wherein  only  convenience  is  contemplated.  In  nature,  the 
very  opposite  of  all  this  is  observable.  Bushes  and  trees, 
hefbs  and  bushes,  blend  together  in  the  freest  and  most  indis- 
criminate manner,  as  in  fig.  i8.  And  while  the  edges  of 
natural  groups  are  commonly  rounded  off  with  exquisite  fin- 
ish, spiry  forms  sometimes  also  jut  forth  from  them  and 
beget  a  charming  diversity. 

And  thus  should  it  be  with  masses  of  plants  produced  by 
art.  They  should  have  a  roundness  of  outline,  and  yet  be 
in  the  strongest  sense  irregular,  the  tallest  plants  being 
broiflght  near  the  fronts  at  some  of  the  most  prominent  parts, 
and  interspersed  through  the  groups  at  various  intervals, 
being  backed  up  by  those  of  the  next  size,  and  the  interspaces 
filled  with  smaller  and  medium-sized  plants.  Ordinarily,  the 
boldest  swells  in  the  groups  should  have  the  boldest  plants 
in  them,  and  the  smaller  projections  be  furnished  with  plants 
a  size  or  two  lower,  while  the  retiring  and  narrow  parts  may 


General  Principles 


73 


be  made  up  with  low  or  second-sized  shrubs  alone.  Here  and 
there  a  tree  or  plant  of  upright  or  fastigiate  character,  such  as 
the  Lombardy  poplar,  the  arbor- vitae,  fig.  19,  and  the  Irish 
yew,  will  make  a  very  striking  break  towards  the  front  of 


Fig.  18.     Elevation  of  Group. 


the  swells,  or  even  nearer  the  middle  of  the  mass,  if  well 
supported  with  lower  plants  of  another  character. 

Single  specimens  on  a  lawn  ought  to  be  disposed  with  the 
greatest  nicety  and  care.  For  the  most  part  they  should  be 
attached  to  the  groups,  fig.  19,  by  being  put  at  some  of  their 
salient  points,  to  carry  out  and  soften  off  the  swells  in  them. 


74  Landscape  Gardening 

The  more  prominent  the  projection  of  a  mass,  the  better  will 
it  be  fitted  for  receiving  one  or  more  specimens  as  an  adjunct 
or  extension.  By  thus  adding,  in  effect,  to  the  bolder  points, 
a  much  greater  play  of  line  will  be  produced.  In  the  open- 
ings between  the  masses,  single  plants  should  be  very  spar- 
ingly inserted,  as  they  will  lessen  their  size.  Still,  where  an 
opening  extends  beyond  a  walk  and  is  not  very  narrow  a  speci- 
men plant  or  two,  not  exactly  in  the  middle  of  the  opening, 
in  the  hollow  part  of  the  curve  of  the  walk,  may  often  be 


Fig.  19.     Group  on  High  Land. 

useful  to  break  the  plainness  of  a  bay,  and  give  more  occupa- 
tion to  the  eye  and  the  fancy. 

On  lawns  of  any  considerable  breadth,  one  or  two  small 
groups  and  a  few  scattered  specimens  will  sometimes  be 
necessary  in  other  parts  than  at  the  mere  sides  (see  fig.  20), 
to  communicate  length  as  well  as  breadth  and  a  larger  share 
of  variety.  In  arranging  these  groups  and  specimens  regard 
should  be  had  to  several  points  at  which  the  lawn  extends 
most  nearly  to  the  margin  of  the  place  in  order  that,  by  very 
irregular  and  broken  files  of  plants,  the  eye  may  be  thrown 
into  these  furthest  recesses  and  have  in  the  plants  on  either 


General   Principles  y^ 

side  of  the  view  the  means  of  measuring  its  full  length.  A 
lawn  that  has  its  glades  flanked  with  something  like  rows  of 
low  trees  or  shrubs  will  seem  considerably  larger  than  it  is, 
and  will  of  course  present  more  variety  of  view.  By  rows 
and  files,  however,  is  not  meant  literally  what  the  words 
express,  but  an  ingenious  disposal  of  the  groups  and  speci- 
mens so  as  to  have  some  of  the  effect  which  rows  would 
produce. 


%   # 


Plan  of  Proper  Grouping 


Should  a  house  be  so  unfortunately  placed  as  to  look 
obliquely  upon  one  of  the  boundaries  of  the  property,  variety 
may  be  occasioned  by  drawing  lines  from  the  best  windows  of 
the  house,  at  different  distances,  in  the  direction  of  that 
boundary,  fig.  21,  and  jutting  forward  the  plantation  or  speci- 
mens along  some  of  these  lines  into  the  lawn  or  field,  leaving 
deep  irregular  bays  or  recesses  between  all  such  projections, 
these  bays  or  openings  being  marked,  in  the  figure,  by  arrows 
between  dotted  lines.  Not  that  the  plants  should  be  put  in 
rows  along  a  portion  of  either  of  these  lines,  but  spotted  about 


76 


Landscape  Gardening 


Fig.  21.     Method  of  Diversifying  Views  from  Residence. 


General  Principles  "jj 

between  any  two  of  them  in  larger  or  smaller  patches.  The 
plants  at  the  end  of  such  recesses  should  Hkewise  be  the 
lowest  by  which  the  boundary  can  be  hidden,  to  carry  the  eye 
as  far  as  possible  beyond  them.  This  will  tend  to  mitigate 
the  meagernessof  the  estate  on  that  side  and  give  some  degree 
of  relief  and  change  in  the  place  of  a  hard  and  monotonous 
line  of  fence  or  plantation. 

A  leading  point  to  keep  in  mind  in  the  disposal  of  single 
plants  and  masses  on  lawns  is,  in  fine,  that  they  have  to  form, 
furnish,  support,  and  give  extent  to  a  variety  of  glades,  vistas, 
and  recesses.  From  the  drawing-  or  sitting-room  windows  of 
the  house,  therefore,  this  arrangement  should  be  principally 
considered  and  fully  sustained.  No  specimen  should  stand 
out  in  the  middle  of  a  glade,  or  destroy  the  coatinuity  of  a 
vista,  or  be  thrust  forward  into  the  sides  of  ^-recess.  Nor 
should  a  group  be  placed  otherwise  than  to  create  and  main- 
tain these  various  features,  or  ever  fill  up,  except  very  par- 
tially, those  bays  in  which  a  greater  length  of  lawn  can  be 
obtained. 

The  house  must  always  be  regarded  as  the  chief  point  of 
vision  in  a  place,  and  the  best  views  of  the  grounds  should 
consequently  be  had  from  it  The  windows  of  a  house  are 
most  used  for  looking  at  a  garden,  and  the  points  of  interest 
can  there  be  inspected  more  leisurely.  For  these  reasons, 
and  because  occasional  visitors  see  a  garden  more  from  the 
windows  of  the  house,  it  is  a  good  plan  in  laying  out  a  garden 
to  form  a  series  of  lines  radiating  from  one,  two,  or  three 
principal  windows  of  the  house,  at  irregular  distances  apart, 
towards  the  outside  boundary,  and  to  place  the  requisite 
specimens  and  groups  of  plants  solely  within  certain  of  the 
triangles  thus  made,  according  as  they  may  be  wanted,  never 
suffering  the  specimens  nearest  the  house  to  be  so  large  as 
to  cover  a  greater  space  at  the  broad  end  of  the  triangle 


78  Landscape  Gardening 

than  may  there  be  required  as  a  plantation,  and  disposing 
the  whole  of  them  so  irregularly,  that  nothing  like  lines  of 
plants  shall  ever  appear.  The  practice  of  such  a  system 
need  in  no  way  interfere  with  the  beauty  and  variety  of  the 
lawn  as  seen  from  other  parts.  This  may  just  as  easily  be 
attained  at  the  same  time.  Indeed,  cross  lines  from  all  the 
openings  at  the  sides  of  a  place  will  be  of  equal  service  in  the 
formation  of  subordinate  views.  This  idea  is  illustrated  in 
figure  22. 

By  a  due  admixture  of  different  sorts  of  plants,  variety  may 
be  additionally  realized.  The  habit  and  character  of  trees 
and  shrubs  exhibit  a  wonderful  amount  of  variation.  Some 
of  them,  indeed,  possess  unusually  striking  characteristics 
and  assume  a  most  pecuHar  garb.  But  there  is  something 
of  difference  in  all,  and  little  peculiarities  show  themselves  to 
advantage  in  a  small  place.  The  selection  of  plants  for  a 
garden  should  therefore  comprise  all  the  best  sorts  for  which 
there  is  proper  room  and  a  suitable  situation. 

In  attention  to  the  heights  of  plants,  and  the  color  of 
their  leaves  and  flowers  there  is  much  variety  to  be  found. 
Diversity  of  height  is  as  telling  as  variety  of  shape  and 
arrangement.  And  colors  are,  perhaps,  even  more  expres- 
sive. Certain  kinds  of  trees  produce  foliage  of  a  delicate 
pale  green,  or  silvery  gray,  or  with  a  marked  variegation. 
Others  have  a  dark,  massive,  somber  look,  and  are  evergreen. 
Such  sorts  should  be  particularly  sought  after,  and  placed 
where  they  will  exhibit  themselves  most  strikingly,  and  be 
backed  by  others  that  will  help  to  throw  out  their  colors  by 
contrast.  With  flowers,  too,  the  same  measures  should  be 
resorted  to.  The  species  may  be  arranged  so  that  one 
enhances  the  beauty  of  the  other,  and  all  together  make  a 
lively  and  varied  whole.  The  modern  practice  in  America, 
however,  tends   to  a  more  restrained  use  of  plants  with 


General  Principles 


79 


■/,■ 

1 
t 

^ 
V/ 

k>^ 


Fig.  22.     Vistas  with  Cross- Views. 


8o  Landscape  Gardening 


striking  foliage.     The  best  landscape  architects  nowadays 
depend  more  on  the  subtle  blending  of  closely  related  tints. 

Objects  of  a  lighter  color  than  that  of  any  mere  vegetable 
forms,  such  as  vases,  statuary,  foun  ains,  buildings  of  any 
kind,  or  pieces  o '  water  will  largely  contribute  to  variety. 
Anything  lighter  than  the  color  of  ordinary  stone  is,  however, 
hardly  admissible,  for  the  whiteness  of  plaster  figures,  inde- 
pendently of  their  coarseness  and  commonness,  is  too  little 
in  harmony  with  a  garden  scene  to  satisfy  a  cult  vated  taste. 
Greenhouses  that  are  painted  white  on  the  outside  are  simi- 
larly incongruous.  They  should  be  of  the  same  color  as  the 
building  to  which  they  are  attached. 

Water,  with  its  beautiful  changes  of  aspect  and  complex- 
ion, deserves  to  be  more  distinctly  mentioned  as  a  source  of 
variety.  The  feathery  spray  of  a  fountain  or  cascade;  the 
ripple  of  a  pool  as  it  is  agitated  by  winds  or  disturbed  by 
fish;  the  reflections  of  lawn,  plant  and  sky,  which  are  so 
softly  mirrored  on  its  glassy  surface  after  a  warm  rain;  the 
murmur  and  music,  and  Hfe  of  a  stream;  the  transparency, 
the  glitter,  the  coolness,  almost  inseparable  from  the  pos- 
session of  water,  in  any  form,  are  all  causes  of  a  well-nigh 
endless  variety.  And  if  aquatic  plants  can  be  cultivated  in 
it,  or  water-fowl  encouraged,  its  variations  and  its  liveliness 
will  be  far  more  conspicuous. 

Like  the  atmosphere,  which  it  in  some  measure  resembles, 
and  with  which  it  is  sympathetically  affected,  water  is  suscep- 
tible of  a  wondrous  variety  of  impressions  in  different  states 
of  the  weather.  Taking  only  its  capacity  to  reflect  objects, 
an  attentive  observer  will  find  that,  as  a  landscape  never 
looks  precisely  the  same  under  different  atmospheric  condi- 
tions, so  a  smaller  scene  is  pictured  in  water  alike  differently 
as  to  clearness  or  dimness,  shades  of  coloring,  play  of  light 
and  shadow,  distinctness  or  indefiniteness  of  lines,  and  all 


General   Principles 


those  nameless  little  graces  which  go  to  make  up  the  inter- 
esting diversity  that  atmospheric  phenomena  occasion.  At 
morning,  midday,  twilight,  or  moonlight,  beneath  sunshine 
or  deep  cloudiness,  before  or  after  rain,  when  the  weather  is 
soft  and  balmy,  or  harsh  and  chill,  —  at  all  seasons,  in  fact, 
and  under  all  circumstances,  except  when  a  wind  is  stirring, 
water  will  present,  like  the  atmosphere,  a  constantly  chang- 
ing medium  through  which  a  landscape  may  be  examined. 

A  final  constituent  of  variety  is  undulation  of  the  surface 
of  the  ground.  It  is  not  all  places,  of  course  —  possibly  not 
many  of  them  —  that  afford  scope  for  the  adoption  of  this. 
And  it  must  be  set  about  with  great  judgment.     Undulating 


Fig.  23.     Treatment  of  Boundary. 

the  ground,  for  the  mere  sake  of  doing  so,  when  all  the  coun- 
try beyond  is  flat  and  tame,  will  only  appear  peculiar  and 
eccentric.  There  must  be  a  reason  for  what  is  done,  and  if 
there  be  some  correspondence,  likewise,  with  the  district  out- 
side the  garden,  it  will  be  still  more  correct  and  appropriate. 
In  building  a  house,  its  ground  floor  is  now  generally  placed 
several  feet  above  the  natural  level  of  the  land,  and  there  has 
consequently  to  be  raised  around  it  an  artificial  bank.  Along 
the  boundary  of  a  place  it  is  often  further  desirable  to  form 
another  low  bank,  fig.  23,  if  the  material  can  be  had,  and  to 
raise  the  beds  or  masses  towards  the  edges  of  the  lawn,  that 
the  limits  of  the  ground  and  the  line  of  the  walks  may  be 
more  perfectly  hidden.  Between  these  banks,  then,  there 
will  be  a  sort  of  hollow  basin,  composing  the  lawn,  and  sus- 


J^andscape  Gardening 


ceptible  of  some  little  variation,  while  the  shape  of  the  banks 
themselves,  if  worked  nicely  into  the  level  of  the  lawn,  will 
give  more  or  less  play  of  surface.  If  there  be  a  pool  of  water, 
a  fish  pond,  or  a  small  lake  of  varied  shape,  the  sloping  of  the 
ground  down  to  either  of  these  will  supply  the  means  of  get- 
ting a  little  more  undulation,  and  the  earth  taken  out  to  form 
them  may  be  employed  in  making  increased  banks. 

Undulations  may  exist  naturally  in  a  garden  or  field,  and 
these  should  be  scrupulously  preserved  and  rather  be  added 
to  than  curtailed.     As  a  rule,  the  bottom  of  a  hollow  should 


^^fiS^ 


Fig.  24.    Location  of  Group  on  a  Knoll. 

never  be  planted  and  only  portions  of  its  slopes.  Planta- 
tions in  hollows  lessen  their  depth,  not  only  in  proportion  to 
the  height  of  the  plants  placed  in  them,  but  because  the  sur- 
face of  a  mass  of  plants  is  always  more  or  less  broken,  and  a 
dell  so  filled  will  appear  several  inches  or  even  one  or  two 
feet  shallower  than  if  it  had  a  smooth  grassy  bottom.  Plant- 
ing by  the  margins  of  streams  in  hollows  is  sometimes  effec- 
tive, but  it  should  be  decidedly  irregular,  and  in  clusters  or 
groups  rather  than  in  large  masses.     When  a  hollow  or  glen 


General  Principles 


83 


is  so  deep  or  so  remote  from  the  house  that  its  bottom  is  not 
seen,  keeping  it  unplanteci  will  preserve  the  indefiniteness 
which  is  one  of  its  finest  effects.  If  the  eye  cannot  fathom 
any  such  dip  in  the  land,  there  will  be  a  mysterious  charac- 
ter about  it  which  will  lead  the  imagination  to  paint  it  much 
deeper  than  it  actually  is.  And  the  full  knowledge  of  its 
precise  limits  will  not  dissipate  the  pleasure.  Knolls,  swells, 
or  any  trifling  elevations  may  be  advantageously  selected 
for  groups  of  trees,  as,  by  giving  them  thus  a  greater  height, 
the  depth  of  the  intermediate  or  surrounding  depressions  is 


Treatment  of  Grades. 


increased.  Even  an  almost  imperceptible  rise  in  the  ground 
should  not  be  lost  for  such  a  purpose  where  its  position  hap- 
pens to  be  suitable. 

The  greatest  charm  about  undulations  of  land  lies  in  their 
softness  and  freedom.  The  lines  should  all  melt  into  each 
other.  Angularity,  sharpness,  or  straightness,  will  be  un- 
known in  them.  In  the  meeting  of  two  lines  (fig.  25a)  they 
should  seem  as  if  they  had  been  gradually  attracted  towards 
each  other  for  some  distance  previously.  They  ought  never 
to  unite  with  apparent  reluctance.     And  however  good  and 


84  Landscape  Gardening 

desirable  change  of  surface  may  be,  beauty  must  not  be  sacri- 
ficed to  variety. 

The  slope  of  any  elevation,  therefore,  however  small,  should 
be  so  prolonged  as  imperceptibly  to  merge  into  the  common 
level  (fig.  256)  and  by  a  concave  Une  of  the  gentlest  possible 
description.  For  the  mere  lengthening  out  of  the  slope  will 
produce  ugliness  rather  than  beauty,  if  some  degree  of  con- 
cavity be  not  expressly  sought.  After  any  ground  line  once 
begins  to  reach  the  middle  of  its  descent,  it  should  then 
almost  immediately  commence  to  curve  under. 

More  positive,  because  more  sudden,  variations  of  surface, 
may  be  engendered  by  what  is  termed  picturesqueness.  In 
this  kind  of  scenery,  the  forms  are  all  rugged,  the  lines  broken, 
the  changes  abrupt.  Rough  and  tangled  tufts  of  vegetation, 
ground  that  has  in  no  way  been  smoothed  and  leveled,  jut- 
ting masses  or  bold  faces  of  rock,  gnarled  trunks  and  tortuous 
branches  of  trees,  and  ruined  buildings,  half  mantled  with  the 
ivy,  the  wall-flower,  the  fern,  and  the  pellitory,  are  illustra- 
tions in  point.  Little,  however,  can  be  done  in  this  way 
with  small  gardens,  which  are  too  near  the  house  —  itself  an 
object  of  the  highest  art  —  to  be  capable  of  being  rendered 
picturesque. 

•  In  some  retired  parts  of  the  garden,  rockeries,  collections 
of  ferns,  rocky  streams,  waterfalls,  or  other  picturesque 
objects,  can  be  easily  added  in  many  localities,  and  will  be 
most  prolific  in  all  the  resources  of  variety.  Rustic  arbors 
or  seats  —  broken  pillars,  old  vases  or  urns,  partially  covered 
with  some  rude  climber  —  baskets  for  flowers,  made  of  rough 
wood,  with  the  bark  on,  or  old  trunks  of  trees,  scooped  out 
with  the  necessary  hollow  in  the  center,  —  are  a  few  of  the 
more  architectural  among  picturesque  decorations. 

14.  Contrast  is  a  characteristic  which,  though  rarely 
attainable  to  any  extent  in  smaU  places,  must  not  be  wholly 


General  Principles  85 

rejected.  It  has  been  shown  that  it  may  be  effective  in 
heightening  color,  but  it  merits,  as  a  principle,  a  little  more 
development.  It  necessarily  involves  a  certain  amount  of 
suddenness  in  change,  whether  as  to  color,  form,  or  general 
character.  Very  violent  transitions  are  not  to  be  included  in 
the  idea,  at  least  not  so  far  as  its  adoption  is  here  considered 
recommendable. 

If  a  rule  might  be  ventured  in  reference  to  this  rather 
difficult  matter,  it  should  assume  that  harmony  ought  to  reign 
paramount,  and  almost  alone,  over  the  general  features  of  a 
place,  and  that  contrast  should  distinguish  its  episodes  or 
more  detached  accessories.  What  is  meant  is,  that  a  garden, 
as  viewed  from  the  house,  or  from  most  of  its  own  principal 
points,  should  cojisist  of  parts  and  objects  that  have  some 
decided  agreement  with  each  other,  or  that  the  several  con- 
stituent parts  should  blend  and  interfuse  insensibly;  while 
peculiarities,  whether  of  treatment  or  vegetation,  can  be 
reserved  for  little  side  scenes,  shut  off  from  the  rest,  or  most 
imperfectly  disclosed,  until  the  observer  finds  himself  all  at 
once  in  the  midst  of  them.  The  full  effect  of  a  contrast  may 
thus  be  secured,  without  any  interference  with  the  much  more 
important  principles  of  harmony  or  congruity. 

Still,  the  occasional  admission  into  a  more  open  landscape 
of  things  which  will  produce  contrast,  is  by  no  means  alto- 
gether to  be  condemned.  I  remember  being  frequently 
attracted,  and  always  wdth  the  same  pleasure,  to  a  beautiful 
specimen  of  the  weeping  birch,  growing  by  the  side  of  a  noble 
cedar  of  Lebanon  on  a  lawn.  And  I  have  also  noticed  with 
admiration,  in  several  parts  of  the  country,  a  kind  of  com- 
panionship established  between  beeches  and  fine  old  speci- 
mens of  the  common  yew.  In  both  these  instances  there  was 
a  marked  contrast  both  of  form  and  color.  But  the  branches 
of  the  two  plants  were  so  nicely  interwoven,  and  their  foliage 


86  Landscape  Gardening 

so  happily  mixed  together  in  broader  or  smaller  patches 
towards  the  j  miction  of  the  two,  that  while  the  strongest  con- 
trast was  apparent,  there  was  at  the  same  time  by  the  irregu- 
larity with  which  the  outlines  of  each  were  intermingled,  — 
the  masses  of  light  and  shade  gradually  losing  themselves  in 
each  other,  —  a  really  gentle  and  easy  transition. 

The  illustrations  thus  referred  to  appear  to  teach  several 
things.  If  two  trees  or  plants,  or  two  masses  of  either,  hav- 
ing very  opposite  characters,  are  sought  to  be  placed  side  by 
side,  for  the  purpose  of  contrast,  they  should  be  put  near 
enough  to  enable  their  branches  to  intermix  v,  ith  one  another, 
that  the  contrast  may  not  be  too  sudden.  In  the  case  of 
two  groups  of  very  different  plants,  such  as  Hght-leaved 
deciduous  and  dark-leaved  evergreen  varieties,  being  wished 
to  be  brought  together,  a  few  of  each  sort  should  be  irregu- 
larly thrown  into  the  adjoining  group,  to  produce  the  same 
effect  as  the  interwreathing  of  branches  would  do  with  single 
specimens. 

Again,  where  a  contrasted  tree  or  shrub,  or  group  of  the 
same,  is  not  desired  to  be  placed  so  near  its  opposite  neigh- 
bor as  to  allow  the  branches  to  mingle,  or  the  sorts  to  blend 
at  the  edges  of  the  mass,  some  intermediate  plant  or  plants 
of  a  quiet  neutral  tint,  or  some  breadth  of  lawn,  in  which  the 
grass  will  answer  the  same  end,  should  be  interposed  between 
the  two  to  soften  away  the  abruptness  of  the  change. 

The  examples  further  show  that  the  particular  expression 
of  contrast  which  is  most  desirable  to  be  attained,  need  not 
detract  from  the  general  harmony  of  a  place.  There  is  that 
about  plants  which  renders  it  possible,  by  letting  them  grow 
into  each  other,  as  has  been  shown,  to  put  the  most  strikingly 
different  species  side  by  side,  without  any  violent  or  startling 
effect  resulting.  If  the  same  thing  were  done  with  objects 
having  square  or  regular  edges,  that  were  equally  dissimilar, 


General  Principles  87 

nothing  but  ugliness  and  incongruity  would  follow.  The 
pleasing  union  of  two  contrasted  things  is  only  capable  of 
being  effected  when  the  parts  to  be  joined  have  an  irregular 
margin  and  can  be  imperceptibly  and  intricately  inwoven. 

Certain  sorts  of  plants  are  much  more  fitted  to  produce 
contrast  than  others.  Those  with  either  pinnated  leaves,  or 
extremely  small  or  pale  green  or  silvery  foliage  or  slender  or 
weeping  branches  may  be  particularly  noted  as  adapted  for 
contrasting  with  dark  and  heavy  foliaged  evergreens.  Aca- 
cias, several  species  of  sumach,  ailanthus,  common  ash, 
weeping  willow,  deciduous  cypress,  weeping  birch,  and  com- 
mon larch  are  examples  of  the  first  class.  Cedars,  yews, 
pines,  and  evergreen  oaks  are  some  of  the  opposite  kinds. 
Early  and  gay-flowering  shrubs,  or  those  which  have  white 
blossoms,  show  to  great  advantage  when  backed  by  ever- 
greens. An  almond  supported  by  two  or  three  pines,  a 
few  red-flowering  currants  scattered  among  rhododendrons, 
syringas  flanked  by  hollies,  and  rhododendrons  in  which 
the  pale  flowers  and  dark  leaves  are  united,  make  excellent 
contrasts. 

In  colors,  the  deepest  contrast  may  sometimes  be  had 
without  at  aU  trenching  on  the  laws  of  harmony.  White 
flowers,  whether  in  borders  or  in  beds,  where  only  one  color 
is  used,  will  always  match  well  with  any  shade  of  red  or  blue, 
and  yet  nothing  could  be  a  greater  contrast.  Green  will  like- 
wise adapt  itself  to  any  other  color,  and  perhaps  all  the 
more  appropriately  the  more  it  is  in  contrast  with  it.  Dark 
green  is  the  best  contrast  and  the  nicest  mixture  with  white, 
and  pale  yellow  green  with  dark  red  or  deep  blue.  Green 
also  seems  to  improve  a  light  stone  color;  and  hence  houses 
built  of  common  white  stone,  as  it  is  called,  look  best  when 
they  are  reposing  on  grass;  and  the  pedestals  of  vases  or 
other  sculptured  figures  follow  the  like  rule. 


Landscape  Gardening 


15.  Originality.  —  Although  everything  approaching  to 
eccentricity  has  been  fully  deprecated  in  a  former  page,  a  few 
lines  may  now  be  devoted  to  advocating  originality  as  a 
principle  to  be  aimed  at  in  a  garden.  The  scenes  of  nature 
are  continually  sought,  because,  while  they  are  "ever  charm- 
ing," they  are  likewise  "ever  new."  And  a  garden  should 
be  made  to  combine  some  little  freshness,  —  something  that 
will  distinguish  it  from  other  gardens.  Departure  from  rule 
is  not,  it  will  readily  be  believed,  the  kind  of  originality  to  be 
desired.  It  is  rather  such  as  results  from  newness  of  arrange- 
ment, of  combinations,'  of  expression,  and  character.  It  is 
rare,  indeed,  that  two  places  will  have  the  same  shape,  soil, 
aspect,  surface,  and  accompaniments,  and  every  peculiarity 
that  is  not  really  bad  should  be  seized  upon,  and  worked  into 
some  kind  of  novelty. 

Originality  is  antagonistic  to  all  sorts  of  tameness.  Even 
a  slight  deviation  from  established  laws  will  often  be  pref- 
erable to  their  dull  and  expressionless  embodiment,  though 
such  a  course  cannot  at  all  be  allowed  to  be  necessary.  That 
which  is  commonplace,  —  which  is  the  exact  counterpart 
of  what  everybody  else  has,  —  never  leaves  any  impression 
upon  the  observer's  mind  nor  wins  him  back  to  a  second 
inspection. 

Freshness  of  aspect  may  be  the  result  of  any  one  particular 
circumstance  or  a  combination  of  them.  The  treatment  of 
the  foreground  of  a  place  may  produce  it,  by  presenting  the 
trees  and  shrubs  brought  up  nearer  to  the  house  than  usual 
(but  not  so  as  to  darken  or  make  it  damp),  narrowing  the 
lawn  very  much  at  that  point,  and  letting  it  gradually 
expand  towards  the  boundary,  so  that  the  house  will  appear, 
from  a  distance,  to  be  a  species  of  nest  in  the  midst  of  a 
plantation,  though  not  actually  so.  The  boundary  lines, 
again,  may  be  treated  so  as  to  get  the  greatest  possible 


General  Principles  89 

freshness  of  view  both  within  and  beyond  them,  and  plants 
of  an  uncommon  kind  may  be  Hberally  introduced.  In  some 
districts,  certain  sorts  of  trees  and  shrubs  and  flowers  abound 
and  are  met  with  in  every  place.  They  seem  to  have  acquired 
a  local  standing  and  to  be  distributed  from  one  neighbor  to 
another,  and  are  met  with  in  every  place.  It  will  be  well, 
therefore,  to  break  through  these  prescribed  limits,  and 
select  something  altogether  different. 

By  giving  a  chosen  tribe  of  plants  the  chief  place  in  a  gar- 
den, originality  is  not  unfrequently  hit  upon.  The  almost 
total  exclusion  of  deciduous  plants  will  hsive  a  very  marked 
effect,  if  the  evergreens  be  well  selected,  and  those  which 
bear  flowers  predominate;  otherwise  they  will  be  rather  dull 
in  summer.  Azaleas,  or  roses,  or  any  other  very  showy  class 
of  plants,  which  produce  a  great  blaze  of  flowers,  will,  if  not 
too  exclusively  grown,  contribute  to  the  same  end. 

16.  Character.  —  As  the  result  of  a  number  of  principles 
judiciously  combined  and  elaborated,  a  place  should  always 
possess  some  more  or  less  decided  expression  and  tone;  and, 
as  the  character  of  a  garden  will  usually  attach  itself  in 
great  part  to  the  owner  or  occupier,  so  that  his  own  dis- 
positions and  tastes  will  be  judged  of  by  the  kind  of  feeling 
displayed  in  his  garden,  it  becomes  of  consequence  that 
this  point  should  be  kept  continually  in  view  while  laying 
it  out. 

A  garden  may  be  distinguished  by  its  gayety  of  tone.  This 
will  be  principally  produced  during  summer  by  a  variety  of 
showy  flowers,  by  masses  of  brilliant-flowering  shrubs,  by 
standard  and  other  roses,  by  a  conspicuous  flower  garden, 
and  by  a  variety  of  purely  summer  decorations.  The  shrubs 
and.  low  trees  will  be  chiefly  flowering  ones;  green-house 
plants  in  flower  will  be  freely  placed  about,  or  beds  of  them 
provided,  and  everything  will  have  an  exotic  air.     In  winter 


90  Landscape  Gardening 

the  same  tone  will  be  preserved  as  far  as  possible  with 
variegated  evergreens,  shrubs  that  bear  red  berries,  and  other 
flowering  or  gay-looking  evergreens,  with  an  abundance  of 
early-blooming  bulbs  and  herbaceous  plants,  to  betoken  the 
first  approaches  of  spring.  The  whole  character  of  the  place 
should  also  be  light,  open,  airy,  —  not  at  all  crowded,  or 
overgrown ,  or  overshadowed.  The  gravel  in  the  walks  should 
have  a  warm,  reddish-yellow  tint,  and  the  arcliitectural  enrich- 
ments should  be  lively,  and  rather  florid  than  otherwise. 

But  the  expression  of  a  garden  may,  if  required,  be  that  of 
quietness,  —  a  modest,  unassuming,  medium  state,  between 
plainness  and  ostentation.  It  need  not  be  wanting  in  beauty 
or  refinement.  It  may  be  correctly  and  even  elegantly 
arranged  and  furnished,  yet  there  will  be  no  peculiarity  of 
tone  on  which  the  eye  can  fasten.  All  will  be  good,  but 
nothing  extravagant.  Flowers  will  be  cherished,  though  not 
in  extraordinary  profusion.  Every  kind  of  evergreens  will 
be  unreservedly  admitted,  but  there  will  be  no  attempt  at 
display,  no  thrusting  forward  the  evidences  of  wealth.  Taste 
will  be  shown  in  concealing  all  its  manifestations,  —  in  the 
little  arts,  and  ingenious  contrivances,  and  kindly  cares, 
which  embellish  gardens,  as  they  do  life,  without  ever  reveal- 
ing the  machinery  of  their  action,  and  of  which  the  effect  is 
seen  and  felt  in  their  results  rather  than  their  processes,  — 
in  the  whole  rather  than  the  details.  A  quiet-looking  garden, 
like  a  well-educated  incUvidual,  presents  no  particular  feature 
that  can  attract  special  notice,  —  all  is  smooth,  easy,  agree- 
able. And  perhaps  this  quietness  of  expression  is  the  surest 
index  to  refinement  and  taste,  though  the  latter  is  not  incom- 
patible with  some  amount  of  luxury  and  sprightliness. 

Art  should  be  pretty  obviously  expressed  in  that  part  of 
every  garden  which  is  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  house, 
and  may  sometimes  retain  its  prominence  throughout  the 


Plate  VI.     Old  Fashioned  Garden,  Burlington,  Vermont. 


General  Principles  91 

whole  place.  In  the  latter  case,  terraces,  straight  lines  of 
walks,  avenues  of  trees  or  shrubs,  rows  of  flower-beds,  and 
geometrical  figures,  with  all  kinds  of  architectural  ornaments 
will  prevail.  Considerable  dignity  of  character  may  certainly 
thus  be  acquired;  and,  if  well  sustained,  the  expression  of  art 
will  be  a  very  noble  one.  But  there  are  not  many  places 
which  will  bear  to  be  thus  treated,  and  it  is  less  frequently 
suitable  for  one  of  small  dimensions.  It  is,  moreover,  a  very 
costly  style,  and  requires  the  lawns  to  be  on  the  most  perfect 
level,  and  the  grass,  beds,  and  masses  to  be  always  in  the 
highest  preservation.  A  warm  part  of  the  country,  where  a 
rich  landscape  surrounds  the  place,  will  best  warrant  its 
adoption.  In  the  near  neighborhood  of  towns,  or  in  a  bleak 
and  ungenial  climate,  it  will  appear  too  bare  and  cold.  A 
purely  town  garden,  however,  may  be  treated  thus  with 
excellent  effect.  Terrace  walls,  balustrades,  flights  of  steps, 
vases  filled  v^ith  shrubs  or  flowers,  and  even  statuary,  will 
here  be  most  important  accessories. 

Certain  classes  of  plants  seem  peculiarly  fitted  for  a  garden 
in  which  much  art  is  to  be  displayed.  Round-headed  stand- 
ards and  upright  or  fastigiate  shrubs  are  singularly  appro- 
priate. Rhododendrons,  Portugal  laurels,  roses,  and  some 
species  of  cytisus,  treated  as  standards,  will  make  admirable 
lines  of  plants  to  flank  a  square  or  oblong  lawn.  Irish  yews, 
on  the  other  hand,  with  several  species  of  juniper,  cypress, 
and  arbor  vitae,  fit  most  beautifully  into  the  corners  of 
flower  gardens,  or  points  in  other  plots  geometrically  ar- 
ranged. 

There  is  a  possibility  of  such  things  as  poverty  and  heavi- 
ness constituting  the  tone  of  a  garden,  and  every  effort  should 
be  employed  to  obviate  this.  A  large  proportion  of  somber 
evergreens,  a  dearth  of  flowers,  or  a  neglect  of  finish  and 
keeping,  may  impart  a  gloomy  character,  which  is  particularly 


92  Landscape  Gardening 

unhappy.  A  garden  seems  naturally  intended  to  communi- 
cate cheerfulness  and  pleasure,  and  this  design  should  never 
be  frustrated  by  making  it  look  like  a  cemetery.  A  great 
many  large  trees  would,  by  their  shadow,  and  the  destruction 
of  the  grass  beneath  them,  conduce  to  the  same  fault,  and 
lumpish  masses  of  trees  with  few  breaks,  little  variety  of 
outlin'e  and  a  scanty  addition  of  detached  specimens,  would 
deepen  the  impression.  Only  massive  and  inelegant  orna- 
ments will  then  be  wanted  to  complete  its  wretchedness. 

Poverty  of  expression  is  almost  worse  than  heaviness.  It 
conveys  the  idea  of  meanness,  inattention,  indifference,  — 
hardness  and  narrowness  of  mind  in  the  possessor,  and  cold- 
ness of  heart.  Some  gardens  are  thus  poor  in  design,  others 
in  their  details,  and  many  in  regard  to  their  furniture.  The 
first  may  exhibit  a  deficiency  of  thought  and  taste  in  adapta- 
tion, everything  being  dashed  off  or  jumbled  together  as 
convenience  or  ease  might  dictate.  The  second  class  will 
denote  the  absence  of  taste  in  execution,  and  of  care  to  put 
the  finishing  strokes  to  everything.  The  third  section  indi- 
cates a  meagerness  of  materials,  —  the  commonest  descrip- 
tion of  plants,  and  a  scanty  supply  of  them.  The  defect  of 
the  first  will  be  paucity  of  invention;  of  the  second,  insuffi- 
cient application;  and  of  the  third,  dearth  of  means.  Each 
may  exist  separately,  or  all  be  found  together.  They  are 
capable  of  easy  remedy;  though  the  last,  if  it  arise  from 
pecuniary  causes,  must  be  either  endured,  or  the  materials  be 
so  selected  in  respect  to  their  rapidity  of  growth  and  showi- 
ness,  and  so  artfully  disposed,  as  to  be  made  the  best  of. 
Where  shrubs  or  plants  enough  cannot  be  had  to  furnish  a 
place  fully,  it  is  better  to  put  them  sufficiently  thick  in  smaller 
masses  than  to  scatter  them  over  a  larger  space  in  which 
there  will  be  much  bare  earth  visible. 

Instances  in  which  an  aspect  of  poorness  arises  from  the 


General   Principles  93 

soil  or  the  climate  being  uncongenial  can  be  rectified  by 
improving  the  one  and  using  such  plants  only  as  will  thrive 
in  the  other.  Experience  and  attentive  observation  of  what 
succeeds  in  the  neighborhood  will  supply  the  requisite  infor- 
mation as  to  climate.  Hereafter,  however,  a  few  guiding 
suggestions  will  be  given  with  reference  to  both  climate  and 
soil.  Poverty  in  the  aspect  of  a  country  may  be  greatly 
relieved  and  atoned  for  by  an  extra  amount  of  furniture 
within  a  place  and  by  restricting  the  views  from  it.  A 
barren  and  unsightly  waste,  common,  or  moor  can  be  made 
to  subserve  the  purposes  of  art,  if  only  glimpses  of  it  be 
here  and  there  afforded  through  masses  of  rich  foliage;  for, 
with  such  a  foreground,  its  extreme  poverty  will  be  neutral- 
ized and  become  a  foil  to  set  off  the  richness  and  cultivation 
inside  the  place. 

17.  Styles  of  Gardening.  —  No  garden  should  be  alto- 
gether destitute  of  manner  and  style,  however  feebly  or 
indistinctly  they  may  be  expressed.  Purity  and  correctness 
of  feeling  in  regard  to  any  given  style  are  the  most  important 
things  to  be  sought  after,  for  it  is  barely  possible  to  give  rules 
which  shall  embrace  every  variety  of  detail.  In  little  matters, 
indeed,  the  properties  of  dififerent  styles  may  be  associated, 
under  special  circumstances,  without  any  breach  of  rule;  a 
right  appreciation  of  the  spirit  of  each  alone  being  wanted 
to  enable  any  one  to  adapt  parts  of  the  others  thereto.  A 
close  analysis  will  show  that  some  features  are  common  to 
two  styles,  or  even  to  all  of  them,  the  great  distinctions  con- 
sisting in  larger  characteristics. 

There  are  three  principal  styles  recognized  in  landscape 
gardening,  —  the  formal,  geometrical  or  Italian  style;  the 
natural  or  English  style,  and  the  picturesque.  Of  each  of 
these  I  shall  offer  a  brief  explanation  in  the  succeeding 
chapter. 


94  Landscape  Gardening 

i8.  Adaptation.  —  Notwithstanding  all  the  rules  hitherto 
furnished,  there  is  a  principle  yet  to  be  considered,  which  can 
alone  give  them  their  proper  weight,  and  ensure  their  being 
of  any  real  use,  and  that  is  —  adaptation.  In  every  place 
that  can  be  met  with,  or  conceived  of,  there  are  always 
peculiarities  which  should  influence  the  disposal  of  the  various 
parts,  and  give  their  cast  and  coloring  to  the  whole  design. 
And  it  is  in  the  adaptation  of  particular  styles,  rules,  or 
modes  of  treatment  to  the  circumstances  or  objects  actually 
existing,  that  the  credit  of  the  landscape  gardener  and  the 
satisfaction  of  the  owner  can  alone  be  attained. 

Very  seldom  will  it  be  found  that  a  garden  is  without  some- 
thing or  other  that  may  be  regarded  as  a  fixture.  Buildings 
and  the  position  of  their  entrances  and  windows,  trees,  swells 
or  variations  in  the  surface  of  the  ground,  external  gates  or 
entrances,  fences,  and  numberless  other  things  may  be 
already  on  the  ground,  and  it  may  not  be  desirable  to  remove 
them.  The  scenery  of  the  outlying  country  will  ordinarily, 
likewise,  be  beyond  the  reach  of  the  designer.  It  will  be 
needful  then  to  fit  in  every  part  of  the  plan  to  what  is  really 
on  the  ground  and  must  be  retained  there,  not  neglecting  to 
take  advantage  of  everything  that  can  be  made  to  give 
greater  effect,  or  to  keep  out  of  sight  such  objects  as  may  be 
considered  deformities.  Dealing  cleverly  with  difl&culties,  so 
as  to  leave  no  evidence  that  they  have  had  to  be  encountered, 
is  not  the  least  or  the  lowest  merit  of  landscape  art;  and,  as  I 
have  frequently  heard  remarked,  it  is  out  of  awkward  and 
apparently  intractable  irregularities  that  a  competent  designer 
may  generally  create  the  most  characteristic  and  remarkable 
beauties. 

While  deliberating  on  this  subject,  the  shape  of  the  ground, 
its  aspect,  the  nature  of  its  surface,  the  wants  and  tastes  of 
the  family,  the  character  of  the  neighborhood  and  the  prob- 


General  Principles  95 

abilities  as  to  what  it  may  become,  or  what  might  be  done 
by  adjoining  owners,  will  all  pass  under  review.  Nor  will 
the  nature  of  the  local  climate,  and  the  necessities  that  spring 
out  of  that  consideration,  be  forgotten.  Particular  climates 
may  require  more  shelter,  and  a  limited  selection  of  plants; 
certain  neighborhoods  may  demand  extra  security  from 
theft  or  other  injury;  in  many  localities,  such  as  the  nearer 
suburbs  of  large  towns,  plants  that  endure  smoke  will  be 
wanted,  and  the  whiter  kinds  of  architectural  ornament  must 
be  omitted  as  Hable  to  get  too  much  stained  and  blackened; 
one  family  may  prefer  sunshine,  openness,  and  display, 
another  shade,  privacy,  and  quiet  enjoyment. 

Great  natural  features  abounding  in  the  neighborhood  of 
a  place,  especially  within  view  of  its  windows,  ought  seldom 
to  be  multiplied  within  it.  If  the  sea  or  a  large  river,  for 
instance,  be  visible  from  the  house,  it  will  seem  ridiculous  to 
have  an  artificial  pool  of  water  for  ornament  in  the  garden  or 
park.  In  the  same  manner,  should  the  district  be  a  rocky 
one,  and  good  specimens  of  rocky  scenery  be  within  sight  of 
the  garden,  there  will  be  equal  weakness  in  forming  an  arti- 
ficial rockery  within  the  place.  The  mind  will  be  continually 
instituting  comparisons  between  the  feebleness  of  art's  crea- 
tions, however  well  arranged,  and  the  nobler  forms  of  nature, 
thus  brought  into  immediate  conjunction,  and  the  result 
must  inevitably  be  to  the  disparagement  of  the  former. 

Thrown  in  a  tract  of  country  where  a  sylvan  character  is  the 
reigning  one,  an  exception  in  the  treatment  of  a  garden  to  the 
rule  just  given  may  very  likely  be  prudent.  Here  it  will  be 
the  aim  to  blend  the  garden  as  much  as  possible  with  the  outer 
district,  so  as  to  make  them  appear  one  property,  only  giving 
to  the  garden  the  warmth  of  evergreens,  and  the  cultivation 
which  rarer  plants  will  express,  as  a  foreground  to  the  larger 
scene.     It  is  a  very  great  point  to  adapt  the  garden  so  to  the 


96  Landscape  Gardening 

surrounding  scenery  that  there  is  no  break  to  its  apparent 
continuity. 

Perhaps  a  small  garden  in  the  outskirts  of  a  town  should 
have  more  flowering  plants  and  flowers  cultivated  in  it  than 
would  be  wanted  in  the  country,  as  flowers  are  much  valued 
and  produce  a  more  delightful  contrast  in  such  situations. 
It  is  very  doubtful,  however,  how  far  training  climbers  to 
town  houses,  in  the  cottage  or  village  style,  is  accordant  with 
good  taste,  especially  as  they  seldom  look  healthy  or  flower 
freely.  Consistently  with  a  good  supply  of  flowering  plants, 
moreover,  a  town  garden  cannot  well  have  too  many  ever- 
greens, for  they  produce  liveliness  and  verdure  at  a  season 
of  the  year  when,  in  towns,  the  most  leaden  dullness  often 
reigns  in  the  atmosphere. 

19.  Fitness  is  a  variety  of  adaptation  that  has  little  claim 
to  be  regarded  by  itself,  and  yet  it  will  suggest  another 
thought.  A  thing  may  or  may  not  exhibit  fitness  for  accom- 
plishing its  intention.  It  may  be  unhappily  conceived,  or 
carelessly  executed.  There  might  be  a  deficiency  of  right 
feeling  displayed  in  it.  The  expression  of  a  place  might  be 
unfitted  to  the  character  and  habits  of  its  owner.  Its  style 
may  be  too  ambitious  for  its  keeping.  Certain  plants  in  it 
may  be  out  of  tone.  On  the  other  hand,  there  may  be  an 
appropriateness  in  everything,  even  the  minutest.  The  very 
turf  may,  by  its  fineness,  freshness,  smoothness,  and  free- 
dom from  coarse  weeds,  denote  the  proprietor's  attachment 
to  his  garden  and  elegance  of  taste,  while  larger  matters  will 
always  be  in  the  right  place  and  of  suitable  class. 

20.  Appropriation  is  an  idea  to  be  realized  in  gardening  on 
a  small  scale,  which,  though  already  more  than  once  glanced 
at,  calls  for  a  separate  elucidation.  It  is  that  appearance  of 
possessing  property  which,  though  it  may  be  continually 
belied  by  one's  own  consciousness,  is  productive  of  almost  as 


General  Principles  97 

much  pleasure  to  the  eye,  at  least,  as  though  it  were  really 
owned.  Everyday  experience  will  confirm  the  familiarity  of 
the  remark,  that  some  individuals  glean  more  delight  from 
the  opportunity  of  inspecting  another  person's  property  than 
the  owners  themselves.  Proprietors  of  extensive  and  beauti- 
ful estates  rarely  appreciate  them.  Men  generally  value  less 
what  they  hold  by  no  uncertain  tenure.  The  things  which 
we  retain  on  sufferance,  or  which  we  may  some  day  be 
deprived  of,  are  those  which,  if  we  are  not  overburdened  with 
them,  we  most  earnestly  cling  to  and  perseveringly  admire. 
This  tendency  is  neither  illegitimate  nor  pernicious,  in  refer- 
ence to  natural  objects,  while  it  may  entail  much  innocent 
gratification. 

To  cater  to  an  appetite  so  unexceptionable  is  surely  not 
beneath  the  dignity  of  art.  And  as  it  can  be  done  without 
any  great  difficulty  where  the  frontage  of  a  place  is  towards 
an  open  country,  it  should  always  be  taken  among  the  estab- 
lished requirements.  The  ways  of  accomplishing  it  have 
before  been  enumerated,  But  it  may  be  observed  that  a 
boundary  fence  which  looks  most  hke  that  which  would 
form  the  division  between  one  part  of  an  estate  and  another, 
with  such  groups  of  trees  and  shrubs  between  the  openings 
as  would  be  placed  to  give  a  foreground  to  the  distant  view, 
even  were  there  no  separating  fence  behind  them,  will  most 
favor  the  illusion  and  enable  the  occupier  to  appropriate  as 
if  it  were  his  own,  all  that  is  beautiful  in  the  general  land- 
scape. Even  fences,  sheds,  cottages,  etc.,  on  the  property 
thus  surveyed,  may  often  be  got  rid  of  by  a  few  specimen 
plants,  placed  so  as  to  cover  or  to  diminish  such  divisions 
in  it  as  would  detract  from  the  semblance  of  expanse  and 
ownership. 

21.  Imitation  of  Nature.  —  Readers  who  have  traveled 
with  me  thus  far  will  have  perceived  that  I  have  had  occasion 


98  Landscape  Gardening 

more  than  once  to  refer  to  nature  as  the  great  school  of  land- 
scape gardening.  It  may  be  worth  while,  then,  specifically 
to  inquire  how  far  the  imitation  of  nature  is  possible  and 
right.  I  profess  not  to  be  of  those  who  would  carry  the 
principle  very  far,  or  into  minor  matters.  It  is  in  her  broader 
teachings  and  general  promptings  that  materials  should  be 
gathered  for  practical  use.  And  these,  be  it  remembered, 
will  be  solely  available  in  idealizing  and  exalting  art. 

To  regard  a  garden  otherwise  than  as  a  work  of  art  would 
tend  to  a  radical  perversion  of  its  nature.  It  is  and  must 
remain  that  which  its  proximity  to  the  house  alone  enables  it 
to  be.  No  ingenuity  can  convert  it  into  a  forest  glade  or  a 
glen.  Nor  is  such  a  transformation  to  be  wished  for,  were  it 
possible,  any  more  than  that  a  dwelling  should  be  transmuted 
into  a  hut,  a  den,  or  a  cave.  A  garden  is  for  comfort,  con- 
venience, luxury,  and  use,  as  well  as  for  making  a  beautiful 
picture.  It  is  to  express  civilization,  care,  design,  and  refine- 
ment. It  is  for  the  growth  of  choice  flowers  and  the  preser- 
vation and  culture  of  exotic  trees  and  shrubs,  with  novel  and 
interesting  and  curious  habits,  which  could  not  be  reared 
without  the  most  assiduous  guardianship  and  attention.  In 
these  respects  it  is  fundamentally  different  from  all  natural 
scenes. 

Reflections  such  as  these  will  make  it  plain  that  they  who 
would  imitate  nature  in  gardens  must  do  so  in  another  way 
than  by  copying  her  piecemeal.  They  ought,  indeed,  to  be 
imitators,  but  not  copyists,  transcribing  her  spirit  and  not  her 
individual  expressions,  —  her  general  countenance  or  aspect, 
and  not  her  particular  features.  An  artist,  be  he  a  painter 
or  a  landscape  gardener,  or  an  amateur  in  either  branch, 
should  go  to  nature  to  study  principles,  gathering  up  snatches 
of  scenery  and  storing  them  in  his  memory  or  his  portfolio 
for  future  adaptation  and  use.     He  should  note  all  that 


General  Principles  99 

pleases  him  and  endeavor  to  understand  how  and  why  it 
influences  his  mind.  By  thus  filling  his  brain  with  number- 
less beautiful  little  pictures  or  images,  and  his  intellect  with 
the  foundations  and  sources  of  pleasure  in  his  art,  he  will 
come  from  nature  doubly  primed  to  give  practical  utterance 
to  his  imaginings,  and  prepared  to  embody  in  a  composition 
the  finer  touches  and  more  artistic  and  spiritual  elements 
which  he  has  collected  from  such  a  variety  of  sources.  It  is 
in  this  way  that  the  imitation  of  nature  will  be  but  the  ennob- 
ling of  art, — the  airy  elegance  and  flying  graces  of  the  one  being 
engrafted  on  the  more  substantial  characteristics  of  the  other. 

22.  Beauty.  —  That  beauty  should  be  the  ultimate  aim 
of  every  operation  in  landscape  gardening,  may  seem  so  self- 
evident  a  proposition  as  almost  to  excite  a  smile.  It  is  one, 
however,  which  I  must  not  fail  to  enforce.  There  may  be 
different  opinions  as  to  what  constitutes  beauty,  and  of  what 
ingredients  it  is  made  up,  some  affirming  that  its  chief  ele- 
ments are  those  of  form,  and  others  that  it  consists  solely  in 
association.     I  shall  assume  that  it  is  to  be  found  in  both. 

Most  persons  will  be  agreed,  in  the  main,  as  to  what  is  really 
beautiful,  though  almost  every  one  will  have  some  kinds  of 
favoritism  and  prejudice.  Considering  the  multitudinous 
forms  of  vegetable  life  and  the  fact  that  all  are  endowed  with 
more  or  less  attractiveness,  I  have  often  been  struck  with  the 
narrowness  of  affection  for  plants  which  is  commonly  pos- 
sessed, many  people  having  a  few  favorite  trees  or  shrubs 
and  proscribing  nearly  all  others.  I  have  been  told  of  a  cele- 
brated landscape  gardener  who  always  kept  the  nurserymen's 
stock  of  two  or  three  particular  trees  at  the  lowest  ebb,  and 
could  never  get  enough.  And  it  is  matter  of  gardening  his- 
tory, what  thousands  —  probably  millions  —  of  his  famous 
"locust-trees"  Cobbett  spread  abroad  throughout  the  coun- 
try, —  although  it  is  now  well  understood  that,  for  all  prac- 


loo  Landscape  Gardening 

tical  uses,  the  tree,  even  if  it  would  yield  any  available  timber, 
is  very  nearly  if  not  altogether  worthless. 

But  I  cannot  and  do  not  profess  to  comprehend  why 
gentlemen  should  impoverish  their  plantations,  and  strip 
their  gardens  of  the  first  element  of  beauty,  by  cultivating 
only  a  few  particular  species  of  plants,  and  not  merely  har- 
boring, but  cherishing  a  dislike  to  all  others.  A  garden  or 
plantation  denuded  of  half  or  three-fourths  of  its  proper 
ornaments,  is  much  in  the  same  predicament  as  an  individual 
with  only  a  portion  of  his  ordinary  garments.  It  is  imper- 
fectly clothed,  insufjEiciently  furnished,  weak  in  its  expression 
of  the  beautiful. 

Beauty  of  lines  and  forms  is  possibly  less  powerful  than 
that  of  association,  but  it  is  more  prevalent,  and  better 
apprehended  by  the  mass.  A  wavy,  or  undulating  line,  has 
been  styled  the  line  of  beauty,  and  the  assumption  may  be 
true  that  it  is  the  most  beautiful  of  all  lines.  But  in 
averring  that  there  is  no  other  line  at  all  beautiful,  it  is  of 
course  far  wide  of  the  truth.  Every  one  will  acknowledge 
that  the  lines  of  a  dove's  body,  when  in  full  plumage,  are 
exquisitely  beautiful,  and  that  a  circle  is  one  of  the  most 
pleasing  of  figures.  But  few,  I  should  think,  will  deny  that 
a  cube  possesses  beauty,  or  that  a  triangle  is  not  destitute 
of  it.  An  avenue  is  the  subject  of  universal  admiration,  and 
so  is  a  long  straight  road,  that  conducts  up  a  gentle  ascent, 
to  a  church,  or  other  sufficiently  dignified  and  commanding 
object.  Still,  an  avenue  to  a  common  workhouse,  as  I  have 
witnessed,  loses  its  influence;  and  a  long  road,  ending  in 
nothiKg,  may  simply  be  a  dreary  blank. 

'i'h-i  truth  sfems  to  be  that  some  kinds  of  lines  require  the 
acco^npaniments  of  fihiess  and  association  to  render  them 
interesting,  while  others  have  an  inherent  power  of  impressing 
men.     A  wavy  line  i-  the  most  truly  graceful;  it  is  the  thing 


General  Principles  loi 

that  imparts  beauty  of  form  to  human  beings  and  animals;  it 
is  indefinite,  and  awakens  the  idea  of  infinity,  with  its  exhaust- 
less  stores  for  the  imagination;  and  it  is  of  the  commonest 
occurrence  in  natural  scenery.  Hence,  it  may  fairly  be 
invested  with  the  palm. 

Beauty  of  form,  in  a  work  of  art,  is  of  a  superior  order  to 
beauty  of  color  or  embellishment.  It  betokens  a  deeper 
acquaintance  with  principles,  a  higher  refinement,  a  finer- 
toned  feeling.  Colors  are  mere  adventitious  aids,  and  are 
always  liable  to  fade  or  change,  while  floridness  of  ornament 
simply  pleases  the  fancy,  but  rarely  satisfies  the  mind,  and 
soon  satiates.     Beauty  of  form  is  the  most  enduring. 

The  influence  of  this  rule  on  all  the  adjuncts  of  gardening 
cannot  be  over-rated.  It  will  affect  the  shape  of  the  ground, 
the  direction  or  curves  and  levels  of  the  walks,  the  position 
and  outlines  of  all  the  clumps  and  beds,  and  every*  sort  of 
ornament  that  can  be  conceived  of.  It  will  be  far  more 
significant  than  mere  costliness  or  elaboration  or  ingenuity. 
And  it  will  extend  as  much  to  the  proportions  of  a  plate  as 
to  its  individual  elements. 

Beauty  of  tint  or  tone,  though  inferior  to  that  of  form,  is 
what  must  never  be  thrown  entirely  into  the  shade.  Delicate 
colors  are  intrinsically  the  most  beautiful.  Shades  of  pink, 
or  mixtures  of  pink  and  white,  light  blues,  pale  greens,  straw- 
colored  yellows,  the  softest  tones  of  crimson  and  ^■ermilion, 
are  the  most  expressive  of  beauty.  All  stronger  colors  may 
be  rich,  showy,  and  valuable  in  contrast,  but  they  are  less 
positively  beautiful.  None  of  them  need  be  kept  out  of  a 
place,  though  the  above  hints  will  be  suggestive  of  what  is 
most  desirable,  where  the  highest  beauty  is  sought,  and  they 
may  denote  the  colors  which  should  be  selected  in  painting 
either  the  exterior  or  the  interior  of  buildings,  fences,  etc. 

Nor  do  I  seek  at  all  to  decry  beauty  of  ornament  and 


102  Landscape  Gardening 

detail.  It  will,  however,  be  necessary  to  keep  in  mind  that 
minuter  beauties  do  not  tell  in  or  upon  objects  that  have  to 
be  viewed  from  a  distance,  and  that,  in  architectural  forms, 
they  are  more  fitted  for  internal  than  exterior  decoration. 
A  building  that  has  to  be  entered  should  always  be  much 
more  ornamented  and  enriched  inside  than  it  is  without;  and 
little  delicate  finishings,  though  highly  expressive  when  in 
place,  ought  only  to  be  put  where  they  have  to  be  closely 
examined,  and  near  enough  to  the  eye  to  be  thoroughly  scru- 
tinized and  appreciated. 

Beauty  of  association  is  founded  on  the  suggestion  of 
pleasing  ideas,  such  as  fitness,  harmony,  poetry,  or  the  awak- 
ening of  images  that  have  formerly  delighted.  It  is  especially 
connected  with  anything  aged,  —  with  that  in  which  our 
ancestors  or  family  have  borne  a  part,  or  in  which  w^e  have 
personally  shared.  A  tree  or  plant,  which  we,  our  relatives, 
or  some  known  and  noted  personage  has  planted,  reared, 
or  tended;  a  summer  house  that  is  rich  in  family  or  other 
ancient  records,  or  in  w^hich  we  or  those  we  love  have  thought, 
or  studied,  or  felt  much;  a  retired  nook  or  secluded  little 
garden,  which  the  fair  hands  of  the  departed  have,  by  their 
former  ministrations,  hallowed  and  rendered  sacred;  — ■  these 
may  all  be  abundantly  fraught  with  the  beauty  of  association. 

By  this  benignant  law  man  is  linked  at  once  to  the  material 
and  the  spiritual  world,  and  the  elements  of  a  garden  become 
pregnant  with  both  poetry  and  history.  The  chords  of  the 
human  heart  are  strung  responsively  to  a  variety  of  objects, 
and  a  sight,  or  a  sound,  or  a  scent,  may  at  any  moment 
waken  their  melody.  Delicate  perfumes,  bursts  of  nature's 
vernal  music,  gleams  of  gladdening  sunshine  after  rain  may 
stir  the  shades  of  long-buried  thoughts  and  emotions  and 
quicken  them  into  new  life  with  a  thrilling  power. 

Practically  the  beauty  of  association  is  hardly  a  thing  to  be 


General  Principles  103 

aimed  at  or  cultivated.  It  is  an  instinct  which  twines  itself 
with  our  being,  and  makes  its  own  existence  known  and  felt. 
All  that  tends  to  excite  or  develop  it  may,  however,  be  relig- 
iously fostered,  for  it  is  as  beneficial  as  it  is  pleasurable, 
softening  and  humanizing  the  heart,  and  refining  the  entire 
nature.  And  even  in  the  newest  places,  where  not  a  solitary 
vestige  of  human  feelings  or  interests  is  found,  every  plant,  to 
the  lover  of  a  garden,  may  soon  acquire  a  little  history  of  its 
own,  and  be  the  source  of  endless  amusement,  by  personal 
trimming  and  training,  and  watering,  and  protecting;  while  a 
sentiment  can  easily  be  attached  to  particular  spots,  by  dedi- 
cating them  to  the  various  affections,  virtues,  or  purposes 
which  adorn  or  illustrate  human  life.  However  unfortunate 
a  disposition  to  allow  plants  to  become  overcrowded  and  spoil 
one  another  may  be,  one  always  augurs  well  of  the  heart,  at 
least,  of  the  individual  who  shows  a  peculiar  sensitiveness 
about  the  removal  or  destruction  of  anything  he  has  once 
cherished,  and  with  which  are  swept  away  sensations  and 
pleasures  never  to  be  recalled. 

23.  Combination  of  Elements.  —  Having  thus  gone  over 
the  numerous  prihciples  which  those  who  would  lay  out  a 
garden  will  have  to  take  into  account,  I  have  now  to  indicate 
the  manner  in  which  they  can  all  be  harmonized  and  com- 
bined so  as  to  compose  a  beautiful  and  consistent  whole. 
It  may  appear  to  some  that  many  of  the  points  discussed  are 
incapable  of  being  conjointly  carried  out,  —  that  such  a  thing 
as  variety  are  incompatible  with  unity  and  simphcity,  and 
that,  in  observing  some  of  these  principles,  others  must  be 
violated.  That  such  is  not  the  case  I  shall  proceed  to  demon- 
strate. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed,  then,  that  any  stress  is  intended  to 
be  laid  on  one  principle  to  the  depreciation  of  the  rest,  or  that 
the  marked  elaboration  of  either  is  advocated.     The  perfec- 


I04  Landscape  Gardening 

tion  of  a  garden  will  consist  in  no  one  of  them  being  carried 
to  an  extreme.  Each  is  to  be  consulted  separately,  but  the 
joint  teachings  of  all  acted  upon,  such  as  will  best  suit  the 
circumstances  and  demands  of  the  case  being  kept  para- 
mount. Not  that  such  things  as  different  tones  and  styles 
are  to  be  sought  after  in  the  same  place,  unless  it  be  a  large 
one  and  susceptible  of  partial  division,  but  that  some  kind 
of  expression,  and  one  particular  manner  should  be  sought, 
and  the  place  not  be  made  devoid  of  manner  or  expressionless. 

That  simplicity  is  not  altogether  at  variance  with  richness, 
however  incongruous  they  may  appear,  there  will  be  httle 
difficulty  in  proving.  A  garment  may  be  of  the  most  superb 
material  and  yet  its  shape  and  color  be  very  simple.  Dignity 
and  even  majesty  of  mien  may  often  be  accompanied  with  an 
air  of  simplicity  which  may  exalt  rather  than  weaken  it. 
And  so  a  garden  may  be  devoid  of  a  single  rudiment  of  com- 
plexity, —  be  simple  in  its  plan,  its  purpose,  and  its  orna- 
ments, —  but  that  simplicity  shall  be  so  tasteful  and  so 
noble  and  sustained  with  such  excellent  materials  that  rich- 
ness will  be  manifestly  consistent  with  it. 

Nor  will  unity  be  a  whit  the  more  incapable  of  being 
attained  in  conjunction  with  variety.  This  last  has  only  to 
be  prevented  from  degenerating  into  extravagance,  —  to  be 
duly  pruned  and  restrained,  —  and  not  a  thread  of  the  woof 
of  harmony  need  be  broken.  It  is  not  any  unusual  number 
or  diversity  of  instruments  and  voices  that  will  jar  the  music 
of  a  chorus.  Such  a  powerful  orchestra  will  rather  swell  the 
concord  if  well  regulated  and  rightly  attuned.  And  variety 
in  a  garden  will  alike  heighten  its  harmony,  when  the  multi- 
pHcation  of  parts  is  effected  with  judgment  and  forethought. 

Again  the  blending  of  parts  has  been  shown  in  an  earlier 
page  to  be  not  utterly  foreign  to  contrast,  since  things  of 
opposite  characters  may  be  brought  together,  and  even  into 


General  Principles  105 

contact,  by  interweaving  their  parts  freely  with  each  other 
or  separating  them  by  something  of  an  intermediate  tone. 

Utility  and  convenience  might  be  adjudged  ahen  to  matters 
of  ornament.  But  there  is  no  reason  why  they  should  be  so. 
A  useful  thing  may  likewise  be  an  ornamental  one.  Taste 
and  tact  will  adorn  the  commonest  processes  of  life,  and  make 
them  in  the  truest  sense  beautiful,  —  sometimes  poetical. 
So  the  useful  and  the  necessary  portions  of  a  garden  can  be 
brightened  by  art  till  they  will  seem  intended  solely  for  orna- 
ment, though  all  the  while  accomplishing  their  primary  pur- 
pose with  the  utmost  fidelity. 

No  bread.th  of  lawn,  some  may  be  ready  to  urge,  can  be 
procured  at  the  same  time  with  any  degree  of  intricacy.  Yet 
nothing  is  more  untrue.  It  is  not  a  plain  bare  area,  on  the 
scale  of  a  moderately  large  garden,  that  can  give  the  impres- 
sion of  size.  It  is  the  indefiniteness  which  complexity  pro- 
duces, —  the  partial  revelations  of  side  glades  which  the 
imagination  is  left  to  ampUfy  and  lengthen,  —  that  alone 
impart  any  adequate  notion  of  extent.  Plainness  reduces 
the  whole  to  a  mere  matter  of  fact,  which  is  measured 
at  once.  A  little  innocent  deception,  by  supplying  food 
for  the  fancy,  and  preventing  almost  the  possibility  of  esti- 
mating the  actual  proportions,  always  operates  in  favor  of 
expansion. 

How,  it  may  be  further  asked,  are  privacy  and  seclusion 
to  be  gained,  without  sacrificing  all  open  views  into  the  sur- 
rounding country?  Nothing  is  easier,  I  reply.  If  a  house 
be  on  raised  ground,  as  it  should  be,  the  planting  of  thickets 
of  low  shrubs  (principally  evergreens)  near  the  boundary, 
where  it  is  liable  to  be  overlooked,  at  all  such  openings,  will 
produce  the  desired  seclusion,  and  still  allow  the  eye  to  range 
over  into  the  district  beyond.  Such  thickets  will  also  give  a 
pleasing  foreground,  and  they  can  be  kept  sufficiently  low, 


io6  Landscape  Gardening 

if  ever  inclined  to  intercept  the  view,  by  irregular  pruning, 
not  clipping  with  the  shears.  Should  a  walk  run  immediately 
within  them,  if  they  are  not  high  enough  to  cover  it  perfectly, 
it  can  readily  be  kept  down  a  foot  or  two  lower  at  such  parts. 

Originality,  perhaps,  may  not  be  deemed  attainable  while 
due  regard  is  paid  to  the  requirements  of  law.  Rules  are  not, 
however,  made  to  fetter,  but  merely  to  guide.  A  writer  of 
fiction  is  not  prohibited  from  representing  character  in  a 
wonderfully  developed  and  exaggerated  manner.  He  is  only 
forbidden  from  caricaturing  it.  Developments  and  extrava- 
gancies that  are  according  to  nature  are  in  fact  among  the 
greatest  merits  of  a  work  of  fiction.  They  are  at  once  more 
exciting  and  more  elevating.  A  celebrated  artist  is  repre- 
sented to  have  replied  to  a  brother  of  the  easel,  who  was 
contemplating  one  of  his  mystic  productions,  and  complain- 
ing that  he  had  seen  nothing  in  nature  at  all  resembling  it, 
"True,  but  don't  you  wish  you  could?" 

With  respect  to  all  other  principles,  in  which  there  are  no 
apparent  repulsions,  the  means  of  combining  them  will  be 
too  obvious  to  need  describing.  They  can  therefore  be  dealt 
with  or  embodied  in  a  place  as  its  peculiar  nature  or  the  incli- 
nations of  the  owner  may  best  warrant. 


CHAPTER  IV 

The  Several  Styles 

Attached  to  the  geometrical  style  there  is  a  greater  de- 
gree of  originaHty,  distinctness,  and  art,  than  to  either  of  the  • 
others.  It  is  the  most  easily  defined,  and  therefore,  prob- 
ably, the  least  difficult  to  practice  for  a  person  at  all  familiar 
with  the  simplest  rules  of  architecture.  It  treat?  a  garden 
solely  and  entirely  as  a  work  of  art.  And  the  forms  of  nature 
which  it  impresses  into  its  service  are  simply  those  which 
have  the  closest  affinity  to  its  own  characteristics  and  are 
in  fact  most  artificial. 

Doubtless  the  geometrical  style  is  that  which  an  architect 
would  most  naturally  prefer,  for  it  Subordinates  everything 
to  the  house,  and  is  a  carrying  out  of  the  principles  common 
to  both  itself  and  architecture.  A  series  of  straight  fines 
joining  one  another  at  right  angles,  and  of  beds  in  which 
some  form  of  a  circle  or  a  parallelogram  is  always  apparent 
or  which  fit  into  any  regular  figure,  are,  as  just  before 
remarked,  the  leading  and  most  expressive  features  of  this 
style.  Flights  of  steps,  balustraded  walls,  terrace  banks, 
symmetry  and  correspondence  of  parts,  circles,  ovals,  obloiig 
and  angular  beds,  exotic  forms  of  vegetation,  raised  plat- 
forms, and  sunken  panels,  are  some  of  the  materials  with 
which  it  deals. 

To  apply  the  style  now  under  notice  successfully,  the 
character  of  the  house  and  the  nature  of  the  surrounding 
land  must  justify  its  use,  or  be  brought  into  accordance  with 
it.  Grecian,  Roman,  or  Itafian  forms  of  architecture  are 
those  in  connection  with  which  it  can  be  most  freely  adopted. 
107 


io8  Landscape  Gardening 

A  mere  terrace,  or  series  of  terraces,  may  accompany  a  Gothic 
house,  and  can  be  attended  with  a  geometrical  flower  garden 
or  with  other  straight  walks.  But  to  produce  a  whole  in 
this  manner,  one  of  the  three  architectural  styles  I  have 
mentioned  would  form  the  best  foundation  work.  Hence, 
the  practice  of  the  geometrical  style  has  often  received  the 
title  of  Itahan  gardening,  it  having  been  most  extensively 
adopted  in  Italy  and  in  relation  to  the  architectural  forms 
pecuHar  to  that  country.  Still,  there  may  be  cases  in  which 
from  the  particular  form  of  the  ground,  or  the  character  of 
the  outlying  district,  or  from  other  local  circumstances,  a 
house  in  the  EHzabethan  or  any  kind  of  Gothic  style  may  be 
fitly  accompanied  with  a  purely  regular  garden  possessing 
all  the  features  of  the  formal  school. 

Commencing  at  the  house,  which  should  always  be  raised 
three  or  four  feet  above  the  common  ground  level,  this  may 
be  supported  by  either  a  flat  grass  platform,  with  a  grass 
slope  from  it  to  the  edge  of  a  walk  below,  or,  what  is  better, 
the  walk  may  be  on  the  level  of  the  house,  and  parallel  with 
it,  and  either  a  sloping  grass  bank,  or  a  low  ornamental  wall, 
break  the  change  of  level,  this  bank  or  wall  affording  the 
means  of  obtaining  one  or  more  flights  of  steps.  Whichever 
of  these  plans  is  pursued,  the  grass  at  the  edge  of  the  walk, 
whether  on  the  top  of  the  bank  or  at  the  bottom  of  the  slope, 
should  be  quite  flat,  to  the  width  of  at  least  a  foot  (more  will 
be  better),  and  this  rule  must  not  be  departed  from  in  any 
similar  case.  The  upper  edge  of  such  grass  banks  ought  to 
be  square,  and  by  no  means  rounded  off,  while  the  bottom 
of  them  may  be  very  slightly  softened,  observdng  to  keep  it 
quite  equally  so  for  the  entire  length.  Terraces  should  never 
be  so  broad  as  materially  to  foreshorten  the  view  of  the  lawn, 
which  is  a  common  but  decided  error. 

If  the  front  of  a  house  has  many  breaks  or  projections, 


The  Several  Styles  109 

the  terrace  platform  must  be  made  so  much  the  broader 
that  the  upper  edge  of  the  bank  may  take  a  straight  direction, 
instead  of  being  parallel  with  the  house  in  all  its  parts. 
Should  the  center  of  the  house  only,  however,  or  one  of  the 
principal  rooms,  be  thrown  forward  in  a  square  or  partially 
semicircular  form,  the  terrace  bank  may  very  properly  and 
effectively  take  the  same  shape.  The  flight  of  steps  should 
be  put  in  the  center  of  this  projection  or  omitted  altogether. 

A  terrace  walk  at  the  top  of  a  slope  and  close  to  the  house 
has  the  advantage  of  commanding  a  good  view  of  the  whole 
garden  with  the  symmetry  of  its  arrangements  and  the 
beauty  of  its  various  parts  and  ornaments.  By  intruding 
a  little  on  the  privacy  of  the  windows,  it  involves  a  trifling 
disadvantage,  though  it  will  be  seen,  by  experiment,  that  a 
walk  close  to  the  windows  occasions  less  opportunity  for 
overlooking  than  one  which  is  a  few  yards  distant.  If  the 
nature  of  the  ground  will  allow,  a  small  flower  garden  of  the 
most  formal  description  may  be  made  on  the  same  level  as 
the  house,  but  in  limited  places  it  will  usually  be  more 
appropriate  below  the  terrace  bank.  The  remaining  parts 
can  be  filled  in  as  circumstances  may  direct.  Only  if  the 
garden  be  not  large,  a  low  architectural  wall,  either  with  or 
without  the  addition  of  vases  and  urns  or  reheved  simply  by 
piers,  will  be  the  fittest  boundary  fence  along  the  front. 

The  walks  of  a  formal  garden  should  always  be  either 
straight  or  some  arc  of  a  circle,  the  former  being  the  best. 
Their  width  must  be  adjusted  to  the  length.  A  straight 
walk  ought,  perhaps,  to  be  made  broader  than  a  curved  one, 
as  it  will  gain  in  dignity  thereby;  and,  in  a  geometrical  gar- 
den, walks  have  to  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  principal  fea- 
tures. Width,  however,  invariably  reduces  the  appearance 
of  length,  so  that  the  perfection  of  art  will  He  in  balancing 
the  two,  both  length  and  width  being  abstractly  desirable. 


I  lO 


Landscape  Gardening 


Unless  with  long  walks,  the  introduction  of  basins,  sundials, 
or  other  figures  into  their  center  where  another  walk  crosses 
them,  however  effective  such  things  may  be  in  themselves, 
cannot  be  commended,  since  they  contribute  greatly  to 
shorten  the  apparent  length  by  breaking  it  up  into  two  parts 
and  preventing  the  eye  from  ranging  uninterruptedly  along 
it.  Still,  in  very  small  places,  a  group  of  shrubs  for  the  center 
figure  may  enlarge  the  garden  in  appearance  by  conceaHng 
the  shortness  of  the  straight  walk. 

No  straight  walk  should  pass  off  from  another  in  an  oblique 
line,  or  at  any  but  a  right  angle,  as  in  fig.  26.     The  oblique 


ai 


Fig.  26.     Branching  of  Straight  Walk. 

walks  common  in  the  old  Dutch  style,  once  so  prevalent  in 
England,  were  only  fit  for  large  places,  where  they  were 
supported  by  avenues.  In  small  gardens  they  cut  up  the 
lawn  seriously,  and  offensively  intrude  themselves  upon  the 
vision.  Indeed,  they  are  not  adapted  to  the  Italian  style  of 
gardening,  which  is  that  chiefly  kept  in  view. 

Every  straight  walk  ought  to  have  an  appropriate  termi- 
nation, either  in  the  way  of  an  architectural  object  or  an 
evergreen  plant  that  takes  a  regular  and  symmetrical  shape. 


The  Several  Styles  1 1 1 

This  is  essential  to  preserve  the  tone  of  art,  to  give  the  walk 
an  object  or  design,  and  to  justify  any  divergence  from  it  into 
another  walk.  The  ruling  and  blighting  defect  of  gardens  in 
which  straight  walks  occur  is  that  the  ends  of  the  walks  are 
often  left  quite  open  and  unfurnished.  When  they  merely 
surround  the  house,  or  exist  only  on  one  or  more  of  its  sides, 
such  accompaniments  are  not  of  so  much  consequence,  and 
may  sometimes  be  omitted  with  advantage  as  well  as  pro- 
priety. Still,  a  terrace  walk  in  the  front  of  a  house  ought 
always  to  have  some  stone  or  other  seat,  or  covered  arbor 
or  similar  architectural  finish  at  its  blank  end,  if  it  has  one. 
Vases,  statues,  seats,  alcoves,  temples,  urns,  sundials,  or 
mere  ornamental  pedestals,  or  any  architectural  form  that 
has  some  Httle  elevation  above  the  surface,  will  give  a  suffi- 
cient termination  to  the  end  of  a  walk.  Of  the  plants  suited 
for  the  same  purpose,  rhododendrons  are  perhaps  the  best. 
Other  plants  which  will  answer  are  arbor  vitses  and  retinis- 
poras.  Of  larger  kinds,  the  hemlock  blue  spruce  or  the 
Douglas  spruce  will  be  appropriate.  All  upright  and  slender 
forms  are  ill  adapted  to  the  object,  being  too  narrow  and 
spiry. 

Masses  of  trees  or  shrubs  should  never  come  up  to  the  end 
of  a  walk  (fig.  27a),  where  there  is  room  for  a  single  specimen. 
They  may  now  and  then  be  very  useful  behind  a  single  plant 
or  an  architectural  figure.  But  the  sorts  immediately  behind 
a  specimen  should  be  deciduous,  if  it  is  evergreen,  and  con- 
trast with  it  both  in  color  and  form,  to  give  it  more  promi- 
nence and  relief;  while  those  at  the  back  of  a  stone-colored 
ornament  ought  to  be  evergreens  of  the  darkest  hue,  for  a 
similar  reason. 

This  must  be  understood,  however,  as  far  from  meaning 
that  a  plantation  at  the  end  of  a  straight  walk,  even  behind 
another  object,  is  necessarily  a  good  thing.     An  open  space 


112  Landscape  Gardening 

where  the  eye  can  roam  on  into  the  field  or  country,  fig.  276, 
will  often  be  much  more  pleasing,  the  principal  walk,  in  both 
these  examples,  having  a  seat  to  stop  it,  and  to  form  the 
cause  of  divergence.  The  above  hints  about  such  plantations 
are  founded  on  the  assumption  that  these  will  oftentimes  be 
indispensable  to  cover  a  boundary  fence.  When  the  space 
opposite  the  end  of  the  walk  can  be  left  open  behind  what- 
ever is  placed  as  a  terminating  object,  care  should  be  taken 
to  prevent  the  eye  from  being  conducted  directly  to  a  boun- 
dary wall  or  fence  or  hedge  in  the  field,  for  should  the  line 
lead  on  to  such  a  point,  it  must  be  stopped  by  a  few  trees  or 
bushes,  or  by  some  mass  planting.  If  the  view  into  the  coun- 
try be  a  matter  worth  attaining,  some  low  bushes  over  which 
the  eye  can  travel  will  be  enough  to  block  out  the  fence,  and 
a  telescopic  sort  of  peep  into  the  country  along  a  straight 
walk,  which  is  possibly  furnished  with  specimen  plants  on 
either  side  so  as  to  narrow  the  vista,  will  sometimes  be 
exceedingly  fine.  Whatever  is  placed  at  the  end  of  the  walk 
under  these  circumstances,  should  always  be  low  and  easily 
seen  over. 

A  semicircular  end  to  a  straight  walk,  where  it  is  to  have 
an  architectural  finishing  object,  fig.  27c,  will  not  be  without 
effect  in  relieving  the  Hne  and  starting  it  more  naturally  in 
another  direction.  The  vase  or  whatever  is  used  will  of 
course  stand  at  the  apex  of  the  curve,  fig.  27c?,  on  the  grass, 
or  a  semicircular  seat,  to  fit  the  curved  end  of  the  walk,  may 
be  a  still  better  termination.  To  justify  a  change  of  direction 
in  straight  walks,  and  soften  the  abruptness  of  turning  them 
off  at  right  angles,  a  vase  or  something  similar  may  be  put 
just  in  the  center,  figs.  2  7^  and  2  7/,  where  the  middles  of  the 
two  walks  would  cut  each  other,  and  the  space  which  such 
an  object  would  abstract  from  the  walk  be  added  to  the  latter 
all  round,  so  as  to  produce  a  sort  of  small  square  or  circle,  of 


The  Several  Styles 


m     # 


Fig.  27.     Various  Treatments  of  Formal  Walks. 


114  Landscape  Gardening 

which  the  vase  is  the  center.  The  insertion  of  a  group  of 
statuary  in  a  similar  position  with  or  without  an  archi- 
tectural canopy,  or  the  introduction  of  any  bold  architectural 
object,  or  of  a  basin  of  water,  which  may  take  an  octagonal 
or  any  regular  form,  and  have  a  fountain  in  it  or  not  at 
pleasure,  will  present  other  modes  of  dealing  with  a  similar 
case.  A  good  shrub  might  even  be  substituted  for  any  of 
these,  though  this  would  not  be  so  satisfactory,  as  it  would 
require  a  grass  verge  round  it  which  ought  to  be  circular,  to 
prevent  its  corners  from  being  destroyed  by  trampling. 

Another  method  of  ending  a  straight  walk  is  by  turning  it 
off  to  the  right  and  left,  by  the  use  of  an  open  summer  house, 
a  small  temple,  or  an  aviary,  at  the  junction  of  the  three 
walks.  This  structure  may  be  circular  or  octagonal  or  of 
any  other  regular  figure,  and  may  have  the  walk  passing 
through  or  around  it.  In  other  cases  the  terminating  object 
may  be  either  a  bold  stone  seat,  a  covered  seat,  alcove,  a 
vase  or  group  of  statuary  on  a  pedestal,  or  anything  of  an 
architectural  character  that  does  not  thrust  itself  into  the 
lateral  walks.  And  though  these  illustrations  by  no  means 
exhaust  the  subject,  they  may  help  to  give  additional  clear- 
ness and  force  to  the  recommendations  in  the  text. 

Angular  beds  and  masses  appear  at  first  sight  to  be  abso- 
lutely demanded  in  a  garden  where  straight  Hues  and  archi- 
tectural figures  are  so  general.  And  this  view  may  hold 
good  in  the  main  with  relation  to  the  details  of  a  flower 
garden  in  the  close  vicinity  of  the  house.  But  the  various 
forms  and  modifications  of  the  circle  are  not  objectionable  in 
architecture,  for  they  constitute  its  most  beautiful  features, 
as  any  one  may  perceive  who  will  take  the  trouble  to  inves- 
tigate the  matter.  And  it  is  such  forms  that  are  peculiarly 
appropriate  in  architectural  gardening,  when  only  the  mate- 
rials of  nature  are  dealt  with.     It  may  even  be  questioned 


The  Several  Styles  115 

too,  where  there  is  a  possibiHty  of  choice  between  oblong  or 
square  figures  and  such  as  embrace  any  variety  of  the  circle, 
whether  the  latter  are  not  decidedly  more  characteristic  for 
garden  decoration.  It  is  pretty  certain  that  they  are  most 
beautiful,  and  that  vegetable  forms,  with  which  they  have  to 
be  associated,  almost  invariably  incline  more  to  roundness 
than  angularity. 

At  any  rate,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  figures  cut  in 
grass,  and  standing  more  or  less  by  themselves  or  in  rows, 
are  more  elegant,  more  conveniently  filled,  and  more  easily 
preserved,  if  circular,  than  such  as  have  angles  in  them, 
while  they  are  at  least  as  much  in  harmony  with  the  formal 
style  of  gardening.  For  single  specimens,  therefore,  and  for 
separate  beds  or  groups,  they  are  clearly  to  be  preferred, 
and  being  susceptible  of  considerable  variation  as  regards 
size,  much  may  be  done  with  them.  But  oval  figures  or 
oblong  shapes  with  circular  ends,  or  numerous  combinations 
of  curved  lines  uniting  at  an  angle,  will,  if  symmetrical,  be 
more  garden-like  than  purely  angular  ones,  and  will  give 
more  diversity.  The  chief  requirement  is  that  they  should 
be  regular,  that  is,  that  their  several  parts  should  balance 
and  correspond. 

That  some  more  definite  notion  may  be  communicated  of 
the  way  in  which  flower  beds  can  be  arranged  along  the  sides 
of  a  walk,  a  series  of  examples  is  now  given,  commencing 
with  the  simplest,  fig.  28,  which  is  a  mere  double  row  of 
plain  circular  beds,  the  diameter  of  which  may  be  from  four 
to  six  feet  each  and  their  distance  from  center  to  center  ten 
to  fifteen  feet.  In  this  and  all  the  following  instances,  how- 
ever, the  beds  will  be  equally  adapted  for  putting  in  a  single 
row,  along  only  one  side  of  a  walk,  if  the  circumstances 
demand  such  an  arrangement.  In  the  other  designs  the  same 
form  of  bed  receives  a  little  diversity  by  having  specimen 


ii6 


Landscape  Gardening 


®  m  ®  ®  ®  ®  ^ 


®  m®  m  ®  m  ® 


m 


^  ^  ^ 


4- 


Fig.  2S.     Various  Forms  of  Flower  Beds. 


The  Several  Styles  117 

plants  in  small  circles  alternating  with  the  flower  beds.  And 
a  good  deal  of  variety,  again,  might  be  given  to  this  treat- 
ment by  the  choice  of  the  plants  used  for  such  a  purpose.  If 
the  Hne  of  beds  form  a  vista  to  one  of  the  principal  windows 
of  the  house,  and  do  not  run  across  any  important  range  of 
view,  such  plants  as  Irish  yews,  Irish  junipers,  standard  roses 
and  others  of  similar  habits,  either  alone. or  alternating  with 
those  of  a  distinct  character,  will  be  suitable.  But  when  the 
beds  take  an  opposite  direction,  it  is  necessary  to  use  only 
dwarf  shrubs  in  them,  that  they  may  not  intercept  or  checker 
the  view  too  much.  Still,  even  here,  deciduous  plants  may 
alternate  with  evergreens,  dark-foliaged  shrubs  with  pale 
green  or  variegated  kinds,  and  variety  may  be  secured  in 
these  and  many  similar  ways. 

The  square  beds  in  fig.  28c  introduce  us  to  a  fresh  type  of 
form  which,  though  not  so  beautiful  as  the  circles,  may,  in 
certain  situations,  contribute  an  important  element  of  charac- 
ter. The  lines  of  their  sides,  too,  correspond  with  the  lines 
of  the  walk.  And  in  some  instances  small  intermediate  circles 
filled  with  shrubs  might,  as  with  the  round  flower  beds,  vary 
and  heighten  the  effect  without  producing  any  incongruity. 
Further  variety  is  attained  in  other  designs  by  the  adoption 
of  oblong  beds,  about  twice  the  length  of  their  breadth,  with 
semicircular  ends,  and  having  smaller  circular  flower  beds 
and  circles  for  specimen  shrubs  placed  alternately  between 
them.  Either  of  the  preceding  forms  is  adapted  for  asso- 
ciating with  any  plain  and  simple  style  of  house,  which 
approximates  to  the  Roman  or  Italian  school. 

An  advance  to  a  more  decided  tone  of  art  is  made  in  the 
next  design,  the  pointed  ends  and  diamond- shaped  secondary 
beds  in  which  take  a  character  which  can  only  assimilate  with 
Gothic  architecture.  And  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  fol- 
lowing design  which  is  but  a  modification  of  its  predecessor, 


I  8  Landscape  Gardening 


m 


® 


® 


a(©).(«)«n(0).(?)i™(Q).(®)«^ 


#  «  ®  e 


f  ^f  Wf  ^® 
*  •  ©  « 

Fig.  29.    Other  Forms  of  Flower  Beds. 


The  Several  Styles  119 

the  ends  being  parts  of  circles  instead  of  being  purely  angular. 
It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  this  last  example  is  pro- 
duced mainly  to  point  out  the  way  in  which  variety  may  be 
achieved,  as  the  extremely  acute  corners  of  the  beds  would 
be  difficult  both  to  fill  and  to  keep  in  their  proper  shape.  In 
the  next  pattern  we  have  yet  another  method,  the  beds 
being  severed  into  two  parts  by  the  introduction  of  small 
circles,  for  alternate  flowers  and  specimens;  and  this  plan, 
while  offering  less  of  continuity  than  the  previous  one,  admits 
of  the  employment  of  a  greater  number  and  variegation  of 
colors. 

Still  further  progression  in  the  scale  of  design  is  made  in 
fig.  2gb  which  has  a  prominent  center  to  each  bed,  with 
narrower,  pointed  ends.  These  alternate  with  specimen  trees 
or  shrubs.  In  fig.  29c  we  have  still  another  type  form, 
circular  beds  being  connected  by  a  straight  portion.  An 
additional  step  in  the  way  of  variety  is  made  in  fig.  sge 
where  the  ends  of  the  beds  are  turned  to  the  walk,  and  a 
more  flowing  outhne  occasioned.  Very  small  shrubs  are  hke- 
wise  inserted  in  the  circular  ends  of  each  alternate  bed.  And 
if  beds  of  this  pattern  cannot  be  much  commended,  on 
account  of  the  troubled  emanded  to  fill  them  nicely  and  to 
keep  them  correctly  cut  out,  they  may  yet  be  useful  in  making 
a  species  of  scroll-hke  fringe  to  a  walk,  where  only  one 
description  of  plant  such  as  verbenas  of  different  colors,  is 
intended  to  be  grown  in  them.  In  fig.  29^  a  strict  adherence 
to  the  fine  of  the  walk  is  maintained  in  the  flower  beds,  and 
a  similar  conformity  is  observed  in  fig.  295,  some  little  play 
of  margin  being  accomplished  by  the  interposition  of  dwarf 
shrubs  at  regular  intervals. 

It  will  be  obvious  that  specimens  of  this  character  might 
be  multipHed  to  an  almost  infinite  extent,  if  any  sufficient 
object   could   be   served   by   their  introduction.     In   those 


I20  Landscape  Gardening 

already  given,  however,  —  and  which  are  intended  rather  as 
hints  than  as  models,  —  the  reader  will  probably  find  enough 
of  suggestiveness  to  render  a  further  installment  unnecessary. 

Towards  the  outside  of  a  formal  garden,  or  in  parts  suffi- 
ciently separated  from  the  house,  or  from  the  \dew  obtained 
at  its  principal  front,  there  will  be  little  objection  to  the  use 
of  masses  of  plants  with  a  more  irregular  outhne,  or  speci- 
mens scattered  about  in  the  natural  style,  provided  a  kind  of 
connection  be  kept  up  by  the  help  of  circular  or  other  regular 
beds  in  the  center  or  at  the  corners  of  such  compartments. 
When  irregular  fines  are  adopted  as  a  fringe  round  the 
boundary,  they  are  rriade  as  inconspicuous  as  possible  from 
the  house,  and  do  not  thrust  themselves  into  notice  any- 
where, or  weaken  the  effect  of  the  more  artistic  parts.  They 
will  not  disturb  the  harmony  of  the  place  unless  they  are 
obtruded. 

One  most  important  requirement  in  a  formal  garden  is  that 
the  ground  should  be  quite  smooth  and  level.  No  undula- 
tions or  unevenness  of  surface  can  be  for  a  moment  allowed. 
Regular  and  easy  slopes  or  dead  levels  are  as  essential  as 
straight  lines  in  a  house  or  in  the  walks.  A  perfectly  flat 
surface  is  unquestionably  the  best  for  the  purpose,  as  the  lines 
will  appear  longer.  When  a  line  slopes  away  from  the  point 
of  view  it  is  to  some  extent  foreshortened. 

If  the  ground  should,  by  any  unfortunate  chance,  rise  as  it 
recedes  from  the  house,  it  may  be  kept  flat  to  as  great  a 
width  as  possible,  and  then  be  formed  into  one  or  more 
terrace  banks  (fig.  30),  as  it  may  require;  the  walks  to  be 
carried  up  these  banks  by  flights  of  steps,  and  the  change  of 
level  effected  by  grassy  slopes  or  by  low  architectural  walls. 

When,  in  addition  to  a  slope  from  the  house  downwards, 
or  apart  from  it,  the  ground  also  slants  naturally  in  a  cross 
direction,  this  will  demand  some  modification.     As  far  at 


The  Several  Styles  121 

least  as  either  of  the  main  fronts  of  the  house  is  concerned,  the 
ground,  to  the  full  breadth  of  those  fronts,  and  of  any  addi- 
tional terrace  bank  by  which  they  may  be  supported,  must 
be  brought  into  a  perfectly  level  platform.     There  should 


Fig.  30.     Terrace  Treatment  of  Rising  Gruund 


be  no  cross  slopes,  — •  no  oblique  inclination  of  the  ground  in 
a  direction  parallel  with  the  front  of  the  house.  The  level 
basement  Une  of  the  house  would  in  no  way  accord  with  a 
diagonal  or  sloping  Une  in  the  ground,  the  latter  being  sadly 
out  of  harmony  with  the  squareness  of  the  style.  Indeed 
the  side  of  a  house  out  of  the  perpendicular  would  be  scarcely 
less  incorrect. 

From  these  observations  it  will  appear  that  where  ground 
slopes  across  a  lawn  and  parallel  with  the  front  of  the  house 
it  should,  in  consistency  with  the  formal  style,  be  reduced 
to  a  dead  level  as  far  as  the  front  of  the  house  or  its  terrace 
extends.  In  fig.  31  the  dotted  Hne  indicates  the  supposed 
natural  level  of  the  ground,  and  the  shaded  Hne  the  level  to 
which  it  should  be  reduced.  The  change  of  level  from  this 
point,  in  a  line  taken  precisely  at  a  right  angle  from  the 
house  across  the  garden,  should  be  effected,  whether  ground 
rises  or  descends,  by  a  terrace  bank  of  grass  the  upper  edge 
of  which  is  kept  quite  square.  Or  the  same  thing  may  be 
accomplished  by  a  low  wall,  carrying  the  walks  either  up  or 


122 


Landscape  Gardening 


down  by  flights  of  steps.  The  steps  resulting  from  any  such 
alteration  of  levels,  will,  if  rightly  treated,  and  adorned  with 
small  vases,  materially  contribute  to  sustain  the  general 
character  of  the  place,  though  they  should  never  be  without 


Fig.  31.     Grades  about  a  House. 

more  or  less  massive  edgings  or  curbs  of  stone,  or  some  living 
substitute  for  these  in  the  way  of  low  dense  evergreen  hedges. 
Any  extreme  slope  of  the  ground  away  from  the  house  can 
be  converted  into  terraces,  as  suggested  for  rising  ground. 
But  many  terraces  on  a  descending  slope  ought  not  to  be 
used  unless  really  necessary,  for  they  serve  to  lessen  the 
apparent  size  of  the  place. 

Water,  if  admitted  at  all  into  the  geometrical  style,  takes 
the  shape  of  basins  with  architectural  rims,  or  fountains, 
or  larger  pools  that  have  sculptured  figures  along  their  mar- 
gins, or  very  artificial  cascades.  Regularity  of  outline  will, 
as  in  other  things,  be  the  leading  characteristic  of  all  such 
pieces  of  water.  They  may  be  circular  or  square,  oblong, 
oval,  hexagonal,  octagonal,  or  of  various  shapes,  as  described 
for  flower  beds  and  masses.  But  they  must  not  be  irregular. 
Fountains  which  merely  gurgle  out  the  water  or  throw  it  up 
only  a  few  inches,  in  the  midst  of  round  or  octagonal  basins 
having  a  stone  margin,  are  in  the  highest  degree  appropriate 
and  classical.     And  here  it  is  worth  while  noting  that  simple 


The  Several  Styles  123 

figures  of  this  or  other  kinds  in  stone,  with  Kttle  or  no  aid  of 
"ornament  beyond  a  good  shape,  will  be  more  esteemed  by 
those  capable  of  judging  than  the  most  elaborate  plaster 
decorations. 

The  Natural  Style.  —  Serpentine  or  wa\y  lines  may  be 
regarded  as  the  characteristic  features  of  the  natural  style. 
Its  object  is  beauty  of  lines  and  general  variety.  Round- 
ness, smoothness,  freedom  from  angularity,  and  grace,  rather 
than  dignity  or  grandeur,  are  among  its  numerous  indications. 
It  does  not  reject  straight  lines  entirely  near  the  house,  or  in 
connection  with  a  flower  garden,  a  rosary,  or  a  subordinate 
building  as  a  greenhouse  that  has  a  separate  piece  of  garden 
to  it.  Nor  does  it  refuse  to  borrow  from  the  picturesque  in 
regard  to  the  arrangement  and  grouping  of  plants.  It  is  a 
blending  of  art  with  nature,  —  an  attempt  to  interfuse  the 
two,  or  to  produce  something  intermediate  between  the  pure 
state  of  either,  which  shall  combine  the  vagaries  of  the  one 
with  the  regularity  of  the  other,  and  appropriate  the  most 
agreeable  elements  of  both.  It  has  all  the  grace  of  nature 
without  its  ruggedness,  and  the  refinement  of  art  apart  from 
its  stiffness  and  severity. 

So  many  of  the  peculiarities  of  this  style  have  been  inci- 
dentally described,  under  various  heads,  that  Httle  remains 
to  be  added  on  the  subject.  Intricacy,  every  species  of 
variety,  indefiniteness,  extension  of  apparent  boundaries, 
polish,  and  the  graceful  blending  of  parts  are  specially  its 
own  traits.  The  Hberal  use  of  plants,  such  as  trees  and 
shrubs,  in  large  irregular  masses,  more  especially  in  outlying 
borders,  is  a  distinctive  feature  of  this  style.  The  natural 
style  is  passed  over  very  lightly  in  the  original  authorized 
editions  of  this  work,  being  commonly  spoken  of  as  the 
"mixed"  style.  The  twentieth-century  reader  in  America 
will  remember  that  at  the  time  of  the  writing  of  the  original 


I  24  Landscape  Gardening 

manuscript  the  natural  style  had  as  yet  hardly  received 
polite  recognition.  To-day  it  stands  established  before  the 
world  as  one  of  the  great  expressions  of  universal  art.  It 
has  been  cordially  received  and  accHmatized  in  America,  and 
is,  apparently,  the  style  most  truly  expressive  of  the  taste  of 
the  American  people.  It  is  the  style  urged  so  eloquently  by 
Andrew  Jackson  Downing  and  practiced  so  successfully  by 
Frederick  Law  Olmsted,  It  is  the  usual  form  of  expression 
adopted  by  leading  American  landscape  architects  of  the 
present  day,  of  whom  Mr.  O.  C.  Simonds  and  Mr.  Warren 
H.  Manning  may  be  mentioned  as  typical  exponents. 

The  natural  style  is  rather  better  suited  to  the  treatment 
of  large  scenery  parks  and  rural  estates  than  to  small  resi- 
dence grounds.  Yet  it  has  been  used  with  reasonable  success 
even  on  small  city  lots.  At  its  best  it  depends  essentially 
on  the  development  of  broad  effects  in  natural  scenery  where 
fields  or  woods,  river  or  lake,  hills  or  meadows,  play  a  leading 
role  in  the  picture  composition. 

In  America  the  use  of  native  plants  has  come  to  be  re- 
garded as  an  almost  essential  feature  of  the  natural  style. 
When  other  plants  are  used  they  are  to  be  naturalized, 
as  daffodils  and  crocuses  are  naturalized  in  the  grass  and 
Canterbury  bells  and  foxgloves  are  strewn  loosely  into  wild 
gardens. 

The  Picturesque  Style.  —  Extreme  naturalness  is  the  dis- 
tinctive mark  of  the  picturesque.  It  repudiates  all  art,  or 
employs  it  solely  in  order  to  weaken  or  annihilate  it.  There 
is  nothing  flowing  in  its  lines,  or  soft  in  its  forms.  As 
extremes  are  said  to  meet,  so,  in  the  perfection  of  the  formal 
and  picturesque  manners,  there  is  something  in  common. 
Both  call  for  angularity  of  figure  and  sharp  projections. 
But  the  angles  of  the  one  are  according  to  rule,  those  of  the 
other  cannot  be  too  irregular.     And  while  flowing  lines  mark 


The  Several  Styles 


125 


the  mixed  style,  zigzag,  broken,  rugged  lines  (fig.  32)  stamp 
the  picturesque.  It  recognizes  no  symmetry,  and  abhors 
everything  allied  to  law  and  system. 

And  yet,  in  those  examples  deducible  from  the  vegetable 
kingdom  which  may  be  accounted  picturesque,  there  is  much 
of  wild  grace,  eccentric  softness,  and  an  indescribable  but 


Fig.  32.     A  Type  of  the  Picturesque. 


charming  balance  of  parts.  Although  nothing  may  bear  the 
trammels  of  a  rule,  or  yield  to  the  fetters  of  definition  in 
language,  there  is  no  want  of  the  fluidity,  the  blending,  the 
harmony,  so  ravishing  to  the  eye,  interrupted,  it  may  be, 
by  some  accident,  sudden  gap  or  abrupt  pause,  but  still 
full  of  spirit,  and  eloquent  of  beauty.  For  after  all,  nature's 
forms  lie  nearest  to  man's  heart,  and  no  devotion  to  habit 


I  26  Landscape  Gardening 

will  conjure  away  their  magic  power.     The  very  instincts  of 
our  souls  ally  us  to  what  is  naturally  beautiful. 

Picturesqueness  is  by  some  restricted  in  its  application  to 
whatever  is  fitted  for  being  effectively  represented  in  pictures, 
—  that,  in  fact,  which  an  artist  would  choose  to  transfer  to 
his  canvas.  I  have  here  given  it  no  such  limited  meaning. 
Possibly,  however,  that  view  of  the  term  may  help  to  illus- 
trate and  develop  the  sense  more  generally  attached  to  it. 
For  it  is  with  wildness,  ruggedness,  broken  ground,  straggling 
and  bold  herbage,  dashing  water,  fantastic  groups  of  vegeta- 
tion, the  cracked  and  discolored  stems  and  tortuous  branches 
of  trees,  ruins  nearly  dismantled,  except  of  the  ivy  and  the 
fern,  rude  huts  or  cottages  with  their  loose  and  mossy  thatch 
or  buildings  copiously  stained  by  time  and  Hchen,  that  an 
artist  would  usually  prefer  to  work.  And  it  is  these  that  go 
far  towards  comprising  the  picturesqueness  of  which  I  am 
here  writing. 


CHAPTER  V 
Practical    Considerations 

A  BASIS  of  sound  principles  being  now  laid,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  advance  a  step  further  and  consider  those 
objects  worthy  of  attainment  which  are  most  likely  to  come 
within  the  scope  of  the  majority  of  places.  I  shall  thus 
descend  by  gradual  stages  into  matters  more  and  more  prac- 
tical, until  at  last  minor  details  and  operations  fill  up  the 
scale  of  instruction.  In  a  field  so  wide,  however,  it  will  of 
course  be  incompatible  with  the  Kmits  of  a  book  like  the 
present  to  touch  upon  any  but  the  most  important  heads,  or 
to  do  so  otherwise  than  very  Hghtly. 

I.  Economy  is,  perhaps,  one  of  the  first  objects  to  be  con- 
sulted in  laying  out  a  garden,  that  the  means  of  the  owner 
may  be  made  to  effect  as  much  as  possible,  and  that  his 
subsequent  expenditure  may  be  conformable  to  his  circum- 
stances. And  here  I  must  lay  down  as  a  broad  principle  that 
economy  has  no  necessary  connection  with  the  prime  cost  of  a 
place.  The  garden  on  which  least  has  been  expended  may 
be  the  most  costly  in  the  end.  "A  thing  well  done  is  twice 
done  "  says  the  old  adage,  with  remarkable  truth  and  clear- 
ness. 

A  prime  requisite  towards  securing  economy  is  to  study 
well  beforehand  what  is  likely  to  be  wanted  or  desired  and 
form  a  fixed  and  definite  plan  of  procedure.  Many  persons 
begin  building  a  house  and  laying  out  a  garden  on  the  spur 
of  some  sudden  impulse,  and  without  at  all  duly  considering 
or  digesting  their  actual  requirements  or  the  best  method 
of  accomplishing  them.     Hence,  when  they  have  got  half 


128  Landscape  Gardenipg 

through  the  work  their  attention  becomes  awakened  to  the 
subject,  and  all  sorts  of  alterations,  involving  a  great  addi- 
tional outlay,  have  to  be  effected;  and  after  all,  the  result 
will  rarely  be  a  connected  and  satisfactory  one.  To  delib- 
erate and  arrange  and  determine  everything  well  before  com- 
mencing is,  therefore,  the  only  way  of  ensuring  economy. 

The  avoidance  of  broad  and  numerous  walks  and  the 
adaptation  of  the  design  to  the  existing  levels  of  the  ground 
will  tend  powerfully  to  keep  down  the  expense.  The  mate- 
rials of  which  walks  are  made  are  often  costly  and  generally 
have  to  be  carted  and  wheeled  from  a  distance.  Much  mov- 
ing of  earth,  too,  is  always  an  expensive  operation,  as  in 
additi(5n  to  the  actual  labor  of  shifting  it,  there  will  be  the 
trouble  of  throwing  off  and  restoring  the  surface  soil,  both 
from  the  place  that  has  to  be  lowered  and  that  which  is 
raised. 

The  cost  of  keeping  up  a  place  must  also  be  thought  of 
when  the  plan  for  laying  it  out  is  under  consideration.  To 
maintain  a  lawn  in  good  order  is  deemed  more  troublesome 
by  some  than  keeping  beds  and  masses  of  plants  cl'ean. 
But  if  the  whole  of  the  labor  has  to  be  paid  for,  none  of  it 
being  done  by  members  of  the  family,  and  beds  have  a  variety 
of  flowers  in  them  and  are  required  to  be  kept  very  neat  and 
duly  raked,  they  will  be  much  more  exacting  in  point  of 
labor  than  grass,  especially  when  the  constant  trouble  of 
keeping  their  edgings  cut  with  the  Shears  is  computed. 
Lawn  is  consequently  on  the  whole  less  expensive  to  keep 
up  than  flower  beds  and  borders,  and  should  therefore  abound 
where  economy  of  keeping  is  sought. 

But,  for  a  more  general  rule,  whatever  gives  complexity 
and  multiplication  of  parts  to  a  place,  decidedly  increases 
the  amount  of  labor  demanded  for  its  maintenance.  Sim- 
plicity of  plan  will  be  by  far  the  most  economical.     Little 


Practical   Considerations  1 29 

corners  to  keep  clean,  small  beds  to  trim,  and  minute  objects 
to  tend,  consume  the  most  time  and  require  the  most  con- 
stant attention.  Broader  and  simpler  spaces  are  most  easily 
and  quickly  preserved  with  neatness. 

In  all  ordinary  cases  one  good  man  will  be  able  to  keep  two 
acres  of  ground  nicely  in  order,  provided  the  arrangement  of 
the  place  be  not  too  complex  and  his  attention  be  not  with- 
drawn to  other  objects.  On  simple  places  where  there  is 
not  much  dressed  ground,  one  man  may  care  for  considerably 
more  than  this.  It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  if 
there  be  a  greenhouse,  fruit-houses,  or  pits  to  look  after, 
special  help  should  always  be  allowed,  for  in  attending  to 
such  things,  many  hours  of  each  day  are  often  consumed 
without  any  very  obvious  result  appearing. 

It  will  remain  for  every  individual  to  consider  these  and 
other  matters  just  as  much  as  his  particular  case  may  require. 
These  hints  simply  refer  to  a  few  of  the  means  of  making  a 
fixed  amount  of  money  produce  most  pleasure,  by  being  dis- 
tributed over  a  greater  number  of  objects.  For  if  less  is 
expended  on  one  part,  more  will  be  left  towards  compassing 
other  and  greater  ends. 

2.  Shelter.  —  There  are  few  places  so  peculiarly  situated 
as  not  to  need  some  kind  of  shelter  from  one  or  more  points 
of  the  compass,  but  still  fewer  which  need  it  on  every  side. 
Before  arranging  the  plan  of  a  garden,  it  will  therefore  be 
necessary  to  ascertain  what  particular  winds  prevail  in  the 
locality,  and  are  most  injurious  to  vegetation  or  most  pro- 
ductive of  discomfort  and  unhealthiness.  From  a  little  south 
of  east  passing  northwards  to  a  trifle  west  of  north,  with  the 
intermediate  points,  is  the  range  in  which  protection  is  most 
commonly  wanted,  the  winds  from  these  quarters  being  never 
either  pleasant  to  man  or  beneficial  to  plants.  But  certain 
districts  near  the  sea,  or  on  elevated  inland   tracts  may  be 


130  Landscape  Gardening 

much  afflicted  with  gales  from  the  northwest  or  storms  from 
the  southwest,  and  will  need  protecting  accordingl}/ . 

Many  modes  of  supplying  shelter  exist,  which  are  more  or 
less  adapted  to  local  peculiarities.  Hedges,  fences  of  various 
sorts,  walls,  buildings,  mounds  of  earth,  or  plantations,  may 
all  be  good  in  certain  situations,  and  in  reference  to  special 
objects.  It  is  important,  however,  to  bear  in  mind  that  any- 
thing hard  and  dense,  such  as  walls  and  close  fences,  only 
serves  to  divert  and  increase  the  current  of  the  wind,  directing 
it  with  greater  force  to  some  point  beyond,  so  that  these 
things  simply  afford  shelter  to  objects  immediately  behind 
them,  and  do  injury  to  such  as  are  not  within  the  range  of 
their  protection.  It  will  be  easily  observable  how  severely 
any  plants  that  happen  to  grow  a  little  higher  than  a  pro- 
tecting wall  are  cut  by  the  power  of  the  wind,  and  to  a  far 
greater  extent  than  such  as  have  been  entirely  unsheltered. 

It  follows  then  that  comparatively  open  and  meshy  and 
intricately  branching  materials,  such  as  masses  of  trees  and 
shrubs,  are  the  best  means  of  shelter  for  an  area  that  is  more 
than  a  few  yards  across,  as  they  subdue  and  in  a  manner 
entangle  the  currents  of  wind.  This  is  much  on  the  same 
principle  as  that  by  which  modern  breakwaters  act.  It  is 
now  a  well-settled  fact  that  the  strongest  stone  walls  are  less 
durable  and  influential  against  a  heavy  sea  than  an  irregularly 
webby  or  cellular  mass  of  wood  or  iron,  into  which  the  waves 
can  play,  and  by  which  their  force  is  so  divided  and  broken 
as  to  become  soon  exhausted.  This  diffusion  and  the  multi- 
plicity of  parts  in  the  resisting  material  renders  it  much  more 
potent. 

Currents  of  air,  which  are  very  similar  to  currents  of  water, 
may  be  best  broken  by  trees  in  the  same  way,  only  the  parts 
of  trees  and  shrubs  being  more  minute  and  numerous,  they 
effect  the  object  of  shelter  even  better  than  any  breakwater 


Practical   Considemtions  131 

could  soften  the  action  of  the  waves.  But  plantations  in 
order  to  fulfill  the  purpose  well  should  be  pretty  dense  at  the 
bottom  as  well  as  in  the  higher  parts,  and  the  broader  they 
can  conveniently  be  made  the  more  efficient  they  will  be. 
Mounds  or  banks  of  earth,  with  plantations  upon  them,  will 
be  perhaps  the  best  means  of  shelter  in  most  positions.  If 
walls  be  chosen  they  will  be  much  more  useful  when  backed 
by  a  plantation.  Fortunately,  whatever  is  usually  employed 
for  shelter  need  rarely  produce  any  kind  of  shade,  the  north 
and  points  adjoining  it  being  those  which  most  call  for  pro- 
tection, and  those  also  on  which  the  rays  of  the  sun  will 
never  be  intercepted.  This  is  assuming,  however,  that  the 
materials  used  for  shelter  are  kept  mainly  towards  the  outer 
edge  of  a  place,  as  they  always  should  be  if  the  ground  be 
nearly  flat,  because  they  would  there  tend  to  promote  privacy 
as  well.  In  a  hilly  place,  the  flower  garden  or  pleasure 
grounds  may  require  extra  shelter  in  their  immediate  neigh- 
borhood. This  should  be  accompKshed  where  possible  by 
shrubs  only  or  by  trees  of  a  lower  growth,  that  the  ground 
behind  may  not  be  rendered  useless  by  shade. 

As  any  openings  in  a  Hne  of  objects  producing  shelter 
would  only  serve  to  draw  in  more  violent  and  destructive 
currents  of  wind,  it  is  essential  that  the  material  used  should 
be  pretty  continuous.  If  it  be  a  wall  or  a  hedge  or  a  bank  of 
earth  alone,  or  any  other  close  object,  this  point  will  be  of 
still  greater  consequence,  and  the  narrower  the  opening,  the 
more  fiercely  would  the  wind  sweep  through  it.  Any  obstruc- 
tion to  wind  will  drive  it  round  the  ends  or  through  the 
apertures  of  that  obstruction  with  accumulated  force;  and 
the  smaller  the  aperture,  the  more  concentrated  and  powerful 
will  be  the  volume  that  rushes  through  it,  particularly  if  the 
obstructing  medium  be  a  hard  and  impervious  one.  AU  such 
openings  wiU  consequently  be  bad  and  destructive,  though 


132  Landscape  Gardening 

any  little  variations  of  height  in  the  upper  Hne  of  sheltering 
plantations  must  not  be  condemned,  because  these  will  be 
beautiful  in  themselves,  and  will  not  at  all  diminish  the  pro- 
tecting power. 

Sea  breezes  and  gales  occur  with  such  frequency  in  some 
localities  and  are  sometimes  so  injurious  that  protection  from 
them  should  be  obtained  by  the  thickest  and  broadest  plan- 
tations that  can  be  afforded.  And  in  such  instances,  even 
the  openings  through  which  views  of  the  sea  or  of  a  landscape 
in  that  direction  may  be  desirable  should  be  planted  with 
low  shrubs  that  can  be  seen  over  and  not  left  unfurnished. 
For  if  the  wind  strikes  at  once  on  the  ground  its  full  force 
will  spread  itself  through  the  garden,  whereas  when  it  first 
meets  with  a  kind  of  leafy  or  branchy  network,  however  low, 
its  momentum  in  the  line  of  the  ground's  surface,  where  the 
most  delicate  plants  are  supposed  to  exist,  will  be  considerably 
reduced. 

3.  Mode  of  access  to  a  house,  whether  by  a  carriage-drive 
or  a  walk,  should  be  kept  as  far  as  possible  out  of  sight  of  the 
pleasure  grounds  and  principal  windows,  that  neither  of  these 
may  be  overlooked  by  persons  coming  to  the  house.  It  is 
much  better  to  cramp  and  confine  an  entrance  than  to  open 
the  garden  to  it.  Not  that  I  should  choose  to  do  either,  but 
merely  regard  the  former  as  by  far  the  lesser  evil.  At  the 
same  time  it  should  be  noted  that  no  house  ought  ever,  on 
any  of  its  sides,  to  stand  in  a  field  or  park,  but  should  be 
entirely  surrounded  with  a  greater  or  less  breadth  of  garden 
to  maintain  its  character  as  a  house  and  to  harmonize  with 
its  domestic  expression  and  objects. 

What  may  be  termed  an  architect's  view  of  a  house,  which 
is  one  that  embraces  the  entrance  and  best  garden  fronts, 
looked  at  obliquely,  so  as  to  get  them  both  in  perspective,  is 
often  unattainable  from  a  drive,  without  sacrificing  too  much 


Practical  Considerations  133 

of  the  breadth  and  seckision  of  the  pleasure  ground.  Still 
it  is  very  desirable  that  the  first  view  obtained  of  the  house, 
in  passing  along  the  drive,  should  be  a  favorable  one  and 
that  the  approach  should  appear  at  all  points  to  tend  towards 
the  house  and  not  to  the  stables  or  outbuildings  or  in  any 
other  direction.  Hence  it  is  always  well  that  the  architect 
and  the  landscape  gardener  should  be  consulted  simultan- 
eously before  the  plan  of  the  house  is  determined,  that  the 
architect  may  adapt  the  character  of  his  elevations  to  the 


Oblique  Turn-in  from  Public  Road. 


points  at  which  alone  they  can  be  seen  from  the  carriage 
drive. 

An  approach  ought  never  to  pass  the  house  to  which  it 
leads  and  then  return  to  it,  for  the  mere  sake  of  gaining  length, 
or  of  showing  off  the  house  or  grounds.  Such  an  arrange- 
ment is  most  unnatural  and  will  do  away  with  all  the  privacy 
of  the  place.  Nor  should  the  drive  enter  at  the  farthest  point 
from  the  house  and  skirt  the  boundary  all  the  way  to  it  unless 
that  is  the  most  convenient  or  the  only  point  at  which  an 
entrance  can  be  made.  There  is  great  affectation  in  desiring 
mere  length  in  a  drive  when  it  simply  follows  the  line  of  the 
outside  road.     All  drives  or  other  approaches  should  rather 


I  34  Landscape  Gardening 

take  the  most  direct  and  nearest  course  from  the  usual  point 
of  entrance  to  the  house.  But  if  a  httle  deviation  from  such 
a  course,  even  to  the  extent  of  going  beyond  the  house  and 
returning  to  it,  be  ever  justifiable  it  is  when  the  ascent  to  the 
front  door  is  so  steep  as  only  to  be  comfortably  reached  by  a 
circuitous  route. 

No  entrance  should  start  at  an  oblique  line  from  the  out- 
side road,  unless  it  be  at  the  corner  of  a  place,  or  from 
decided  bend  in  the  road,  as  in  fig.  33;  and  then  the  hne  of  the 


Fig.  34.  Turn-in  at  Right  Angles. 

drive  should  decidedly  turn  away  from  the  line  of  road. 
Generally  a  drive  requires  to  commence  at  right  angles  from 
another  road  (fig.  34),  even  though  it  should  have  to  take  a 
sharp  curve  in  another  direction  almost  immediately  after- 
wards. In  the  great  majority  of  cases,  the  wing  walls  or 
other  fences  on  either  side  of  an  entrance  should  present  a 
convex  form  to  the  high  road,  as  this  is  the  natural  form  of 
approach,  and  affords  less  opportunity  for  the  accumulation 
of  weeds  or  nuisances.  But  if  a  dignified  architectural  char- 
acter be  sought,  and  the  entrance  is  intended  to  be  bold  and 
imposing,  walls  of  a  reversed  or  concave  figure  will  perhaps 
be  preferable,  and  a  light  post  and  chain  fence,  in  a  convex 


Practical  Considerations  135 

curve,  can  be  placed  outside,  enclosing  a  piece  of  grass  on 
which  a  few  shrubs  or  trees  may  be  grouped. 

As  a  house  ought  invariably  to 'be  on  higher  ground  than 
the  bulk  of  the  garden,  in  order  that  it  may  not  appear  damp 
or  buried  and  shut  away  from  all  views  into  the  surrounding 
country,  so  the  approach  to  it,  especially  where  the  place  is 
small,  should  be  contrived  so  as  to  be  on  a  gradual  rise  all 
the  way.  A  slight  dip  in  the  drive  with  a  subsequent  and 
more  decided  ascent  where  it  exists  naturally,  may  sometimes 
be  the  means  of  heightening  the  ground  about  the  house  in 
appearance.  But  a  constant  rise  in  the  approach  will  be  the 
most  uniformly  suitable. 

Any  curves  in  a  drive  or  walk  to  a  house  will  be  better  if 
they  have  a  very  easy  sweep,  that  there  may  be  no  tempta- 
tion for  vehicles  or  foot  passengers  to  injure  the  grass  verges 
by  taking  a  shorter  turn. 

In  tracts  of  country  that  are  excessively  fiat,  and  when  the 
form  of  the  house  is  tolerably  regular,  having  a  center  and 
two  wings,  should  the  exterior  boundary  of  the  place  be 
about  parallel  with  the  entrance  front  of  the  house,  and  the 
distance  between  the  two  sufficiently  great,  a  straight  drive 
through  an  avenue  composed  of  two,  four,  or  more  rows  of 
trees  will  often  have  a  grand  and  noble  appearance,  particu- 
larly if  the  grounds  are  otherwise  arranged  accordantly. 
Wherever  the  drive  is  deficient  in  length,  there  should  be 
only  one  row  of  trees  on  each  side  of  the  road,  and  the  width 
of  the  drive  and  the  distance  from  it  to  the  trees  should  be 
also  proportioned  to  the  length  of  the  avenue. 

As  bearing  directly  on  the  subject  of  avenues,  I  shall  make 
no  apology  for  inserting  the  following  extract,  being  part  of 
a  description  of  the  park  at  Windsor,  from  a  small  work 
of  mine  on  the  "Parks  and  Gardens  of  London  and  its 
Suburbs," 


136  Landscape  Gardening 

"The  drive  known  as  the  Long  Walk  is  three  miles  in 
length,  in  a  straight  line,  and  is  supported  on  either  side  by 
two  rows  of  elms,  which  have  attained  their  full  size,  and,  with 
a  very  few  unimportant  exceptions,  are  yet  in  the  greatest 
vigor  and  luxuriance.  Tliis  avenue  will  be  sure  to  strike 
the  visitor  as  exceedingly  grand.  It  is  somewhat  marred, 
however,  by  being  carried  over  a  considerable  swell  in  the 
ground  about  half  way  up  it,  which  helps  to  shorten  its 
apparent  length,  and  to  make  the  drive  seem  as  if  it  were 
not  straight,  while  a  more  decidedly  objectionable  feature  is 
that  it  ascends  a  hill  away  from  the  castle  at  the  further  end. 
If  there  are  any  two  circumstances  which,  more  than  others, 
require  to  be  kept  in  view  in  the  formation  of  avenues,  they 
are  that  the  ground  over  which  they  run  should  be  nearly 
level,  or  have  one  continuous  ascent  towards  the  mansion  or 
principal  object  to  which  they  lead,  and  that  conseciuently 
this  object  should  be  on  the  highest  ground,  at  least  as 
respects  the  avenue.  Any  avenue  that  commences  on  a  hill 
and  passes  down  that  hill  towards  its  terminating  object, 
even  though  it  afterwards  rise  again  near  the  end,  must 
appear  to  some  extent  inverted,  and  every  undulation  or 
swell  of  the  ground  in  it  will  necessarily  be  a  deformity. 
The  idea  which  is  conveyed  to  the  mind  by  the  elevation  of 
the  Long  Walk  at  Windsor,  as  it  reaches  its  termination  in 
the  Great  Park,  is  that  the  Castle  ought  to  be  somewhere 
about  the  site  of  the  statue  of  George  III,  by  which  this  walk 
is  so  appropriately  finished. 

"  Those  familiar  with  the  Champs  Elysees  at  Paris  will 
remember  that  the  grand  avenue  there,  like  this  at  Windsor, 
is  partly  on  a  steep  ascent,  away  from  the  palace  of  the 
Tuileries  to  the  Triumphal  Arch  at  the  summit.  And 
although  this  circumstance  enhances  the  effect  as  viewed 
from  the  front  of  the  palace,  yet,  regarded  as  an  approach 


Practical  Considerations  137 

to  the  Tuileries,  it  causes  the  latter  to  appear  more  or  less 
buried  in  a  low  marshy  tract." 

Avenues  that  are  not  in  a  straight  line  but  are  curved  or 
otherwise  irregular  may  be  convenient  or  answer  some  useful 
purpose,  as  in  the  road  on  the  northwest  side  of  St.  James's 
Park,  London,  but  they  can  never  rise  to  the  dignity  of  art. 
And  when,  as  is  the  case  with  one  at  Woburn  Abbey,  they 
are  both  curved  and  pass  along  the  ridge  of  a  hill,  where,  if 
seen  from  the  side  and  from  a  lower  point,  they  exhibit  a 
flat  and  monotonous  sky  line,  and  also  appear  thin  and 
meager,  they  are  doubly  objectionable. 

Anything  in  the  shape  of  a  single  row  of  trees  along  the 
side  of  a  drive,  or  a  double  row  that  is  broken  at  intervals, 
unless  this  last  be  done  in  the  most  formal  manner,  and  for 
the  sake  of  opening  out  a  decided  vista,  would  be  quite  inad- 
missible in  an  artistic  point  of  view.  And  the  rule  will  hold 
good  with  reference  to  bold  and  important  walks  in  pleasure 
grounds,  except  where  a  square  or  oblong  plot,  that  is  com- 
plete in  itself,  is  merely  flanked  on  either  side  with  a  row 
of  appropriate  plants,  the  two  rows  in  such  case,  however 
distant  from  each  other,  actually  constituting  the  avenue. 

There  is  commonly  a  great  propensity  to  make  the  sweeps 
of  gravel  at  an  entrance  door  for  carriages  to  turn  in  a  good 
deal  too  large,  for  the  accommodation  of  careless  coachmen. 
This  disfigures  and  reduces  the  apparent  size  of  a  place  con- 
siderably, and  must  be  protested  against.  The  smaller  the 
space  that  can  possibly  be  turned  in  the  better  it  will  look. 
From  thirty  to  forty  feet  in  breadth  will  be  ample,  and  the 
former  will  suffice  where  the  approach  to  the  front  door  is 
by  a  nearly  parallel  hne,  or  on  a  long  and  gentle  curve.  The 
error  of  having  the  immediate  front  of  the  house  occupied 
with  stretches  of  gravel  drive  instead  of  with  green  lawn  is 
very  common  in  America.     Every  arrangement  of  this  sort 


'38 


Landscape   Gardening 


should  be  avoided.  All  sorts  of  houses,  except  the  largest 
and  most  formal,  where  a  straight  approach  to  the  front  is 
required,  will  be  better  planned  with  the  carriage  entrance  or 
porte  cochere  on  the  side.  The  breadth  and  extent  of  the 
carriage  turns  may  then  be  reduced  to  a  minimum. 

Wherever  it  may  be  possible,  the  entrance  door  or  porch 
of  a  house  should  be  approached  laterally,  and  so  as  to  have 
the  door  on  the  left.  It  is  very  difficult  to  drive  up  to  a  door 
when  the  line  of  approach  is  at  a  right  angle  with  the  house, 


Fig.  35.     Carriage  Turn  for  Small  Grounds. 


and  demands  much  more  space  to  turn  in.  By  keeping  the 
door  on  the  left,  too,  any  one  who  may  be  riding  with  the 
coachman,  or  any  lady  who  may  be  driven  in  a  pony  carriage 
or  phaeton,  will  alight  at  once  from  the  side  of  the  carriage 
on  which  they  are  seated.  Figs.  35  and  36  will  exempHfy 
this,  the  former  being  a  simple  sweep  of  the  usual  shape 
while  the  latter  is  broken  up  by  the  insertion  of  a  large  shrub 
or  group  of  shrubs  in  the  center. 

Cases  may  occur  in  which,  from  the  extreme  shortness  of 
the  drive,  the  character  of  the  house,  the  desire  to  make 
the  garden  private,  or  the  existence  of  a  natural  bank  of 


^>-J- 


-.— ^-=r-'- 


Practical  Considerations 


139 


earth  against  the  carriage  sweep,  the  formation  of  a  walled 
entrance  court  will  be  both  prudent  and  ornamental.  If  the 
walls  be  but  low  (three  or  four  feet  high)  the  area  of  such  a 
court  need  not  be  much  larger  than  an  ordinary  carriage 
sweep.  But  if  the  court  be  surrounded  with  walls  ten  or 
twelve  feet  high,  it  will  require  to  be  much  larger,  and  be 
decorated  with  shrubs  and  climbers.  In  either  case  the  wall 
should  be  architecturally  treated  and  made  a  main  element  in 
the  design. 


Fig.  36.     Carriage  Turn  with  Embellishment. 

In  obtaining  access  to  the  servants'  apartments  of  a  house, 
a  few  leading  rules  will  have  to  be  observed.  If  at  all  prac- 
ticable it  should  be  made  quite  a  separate  thing,  from  the 
outside,  and  will  be  more  useful  if  it  will  admit  carts  to  convey 
supplies  to  the  house  and  rubbish  from  it.  But  where  this 
cannot  be  done,  the  access  may  be  compassed  by  a  branch 
road  or  walk  from  the  main  approach,  keeping  this  as  far  as 
possible  from  the  entrance  front  of  the  house,  and  rendering 
it  smaller  or  more  confined  and  less  direct  than  the  main 
approach,  that  the  two  may  never  be  mistaken  for  each 
other. 


140  Landscape  Gardening 

4.  Treatment  of  walks.  —  Independently  of  the  approach 
to  the  house,  there  will  be  a  greater  or  lesser  number  of  other 
walks  in  a  garden,  the  treatment  of  which  will  demand  much 
attention.  They  should  not  strictly  follow  the  boundary  of 
a  place,  unless  it  be  purely  in  the  formal  style  and  its  fences 
be  architectural.  But  wherever  they  diverge  from  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  boundary,  and  indeed  at  every  point  through- 
out their  length,  the  outside  fences  should  be  kept  in  the 
background  by  masses  of  shrubs  and  trees,  especially  the 
former. 

Walks  should  be  made  to  embrace  particular  views,  to  take 
a  variety  of  levels,  to  be  concealed  from  each  other,  and  to 
have  a  definite  object.  All  the  more  interesting  aspects  of 
the  house,  the  garden,  and  the  country,  ought  to  be  seen 
from  them  at  particular  and  favorable  points.  These  points 
should  thus  be  situated  where  the  ground  is  highest,  in  a 
general  way,  that  the  view  may  be  more  commanding.  But 
the  house  itself  ought  not  to  be  seen  from  a  greater  elevation 
than  it  actually  occupies,  unless  there  be  a  hollow  between  it 
and  the  point  of  view.  Undulation  in  the  surface  of  walks, 
where  it  can  be  suitably  attained,  will  be  very  effective  in  the 
production  of  variety.  It  must  be  very  gentle  and  gradual, 
and  like  the  curves  in  the  ground  line,  the  changes  should 
pass  softly  into  each  other.  Sudden  swells  or  hasty  dips 
should  be  alike  unknown,  unless  they  are  to  accompHsh 
some  special  end  or  are  rendered  necessary  by  the  natural 
conformation.  The  highest  or  lowest  parts  will  best  occur 
towards  the  center  of  the  curves,  where  the  Hnes  are  easiest. 

If  two  walks  be  seen  from  each  other,  when  they  are  taking 
parallel  directions,  one  of  them  will  appear  to  some  extent 
needless,  and  in  the  same  degree  objectionable.  Masses  of 
shrubs,  or  banks  of  earth  partially  clothed  with  these,  are  the 
most  natural  and  gentle  divisions  for  placing  between  them. 


Practical   Considerations  141 

A  walk  that  leads  nowhere  or  ends  in  nothing  gives  an  im- 
pression of  an  unfinished  place,  and  is  as  unsatisfactory  as  all 
other  abortions.  If  it  be  not  desirable  to  continue  it  beyond 
a  certain  point,  and  yet  be  of  consequence  that  it  should  pro- 
ceed as  far  as  that  point,  a  summer  house,  or  arbor,  or  seat 
to  obtain  a  good  view,  will  be  a  sufficient  terminating  object. 
Otherwise  the  walk  can  be  carried  round  a  small  loop  filled 
with  shrubs  till  it  returns  again  into  the  same  part.     A  mere 


Branching  of  a  walk. 


cul-de-sac  in  which  a  walk  or  drive  expands  into  a  truncated 
form  without  any  outlet  is  extremely  undesirable. 

No  walk  must  ever  turn  aside  from  its  course  except  for 
some  sufficient  object.  A  great  change  of  level,  a  tree,  plant, . 
or  group  of  plants,  and  a  variety  of  such  things,  will  justify  a 
curve  in  a  walk ;  and  when  it  is  straight,  something  must  be 
distinctly  placed  to  stop  it  where  it  turns  off  in  a  lateral 
direction.     It  should  appear  as  if  it  could  not  go  any  further 


142  Landscape  Gardening 

in  the  same  line.  Repton  suggests  as  an  excellent  rule  that 
where  two  walks  branch  off  from  one  another  at  any  point, 
they  should  take  a  decided  outward  turn  (fig.  37)  so  as  not 
to  seem  as  if  they  would  soon  unite  again.  Cf  course  this 
will  not  apply  to  the  case  of  their  merely  passing  round  circles 
or  ovals,  where  it  is  simply  assumed  that  the  obstacle  in  the 
center  causes  a  temporary  diversion. 

While  the  shrubs  and  plantations  that  skirt  the  sides  of 
walks  at  intervals  are  never  placed  so  as  to  irake  a  formal 
line  or  hedge,  nor  pruned  or  chpped  into  regular  shapes,  in 
relation  to  curved  walks,  they  ought  not  so  to  intrude  upon 
the  walks  as  to  prevent  their  being  comfortably  used  in  wet 
weather.  Regard  should  be  had  at  the  time  of  planting  to 
their  usual  character  and  habits,  \\ith  an  ultimate  view  to 
this  convenience. 

In  the  formation  of  serpentine  v  alks  it  is  not  well  to  set 
their  curves  out  to  any  regular  radius  but  simply  to  please 
the  eye.  The  length  or  extent  of  divergence  of  the  curves 
from  a  central  line  cannot  be  too  varied  and  irregular  if  the 
turns  be  not  sudden  and  abrupt.  Great  ^'ariety  of  curves 
will  best  conduce  to  newness  of  scene  and  maintenance  of 
interest.  The  most  delicate  point  in  working  them  out  will 
be  to  blend  two  curves  nicely  together  without  producing  a 
straight  or  a  tame  line  at  their  junction. 

Whatever  may  be  at  the  sides  of  walks,  whether  raised 
banks,  borders,  depressions,  or  comparatively  level  ground, 


Fig.  38.     Grading  to  a  Walk. 

if  a  grass  edging  be  used  it  should  always  be  perfectly 
flat  for  a  greater  or  less  width,  according  to  the  space,  and 
then  gradually  rise  (fig.  38)  with  a  concave  curve,  till  it 


Practical   Considerations  143 


joins  a  bank  or  elevated  bed.  Or  else  it  should  gradually 
fall  with  first  a  convex  (fig.  39)  and  then  a  concave  curve 
till  it  unites  with  the  line  of  a  depression  or  hollow.  With 
very  precipitous  banks  that  are  compelled  to  be  brought 
close  to  a  walk,  this  rule  must  be  set  aside,  though  rocks, 
stones,  roots,  etc.,  clothed  with  trailing  plants,  or  masses  of 


Fig.  39.     Grading  to  a  Walk. 

ivy  or  cotoneaster  alone,  will  be  preferable  to  grass  for  such 
places.  Nothing  can  be  more  ugly  than  a  convex  grass  bank 
reposing  angularly  on  the  margin  of  a  walk,  and  the  edge  of 
it  can  never  be  cut  neatly,  w^hile  it  is  apt  to  be  pared  back 
by  orderly  gardeners,  to  keep  it  to  some  degree  of  smooth- 
ness and  straightness,  until  a  deep  harsh  line  of  bare  earth  is 
presented  at  its  base. 

5.  Fences.  —  All  the  fences  of  a  place,  unless  they  be 
purely  architectural  ones  or  occupy  some  peculiar  position, 
should  be  as  light  as  they  can  be  made  consistently  with 
strength  and  be  otherwise  quiet  and  inconspicuous.  A  fence 
is  a  thing  of  necessity  and  not  of  ornament,  and  though  the 
latter  feature  may  possibly  be  added  to  it,  it  is  not  usually 
to  be  wished  for.  The  material,  therefore,  the  color,  and 
the  form,  should  be  such  as  will  least  excite  attention  and 
can  be  most  readily  concealed  or  disguised. 

Sunk  fences  are  the  best  of  all  barriers,  when  the  nature 
of  the  boundary  admits  of  their  appHcation,  especially  if  the 
land  beyond  them  be  in  grass,  for  they  are  not  at  all  seen 
from  a  distance  and  are  as  good  as  a  common  wall  in  keep- 


144  Landscape  Gardening 


ing  out  cattle  or  other  intruders.  But  they  are  very  rarely 
fitted  for  any  place  except  between  the  lawn  and  the  park, 
where  they  are  invaluable.  If  the  lawn  and  park  be  not  on 
the  same  level  where  the  sunk  fence  separates  them,  they 
should  be  made  pretty  nearly  so,  or  the  line  of  division  will 
show  itself  too  much  from  the  house  and  from  some  part  of 
the  park,  and  the  apparent  size  of  the  land  will  be  lessened. 
The  simk  fqnce  has  not  been  used  in  America  as  much  as  its 
merits  and  American  needs  would  warrant. 

A  sunk  fence  may  be  of  several  different  kinds;  but,  in 
any  form,  it  is  important  that  the  ground  lines  of  the  excava- 
tion should  be  carefully  regulated.     The  simplest  and  most 


Fig.  40.     Sunken  Wall  or  Fence. 

common  mode  is  (fig.  40)  that  in  which  a  wall  is  introduced 
to  sustain  the  earth  on  the  side  next  the  pleasure  grounds. 
This  wall  should  always  batter  slightly  and  stand  about  five 
feet  above  the  ground  at  its  base,  the  sloping  hne  from  it 
extending  twelve  or  fifteen  feet,  as  shown  in  the  figure.     In 


Fig.  41.     Sloping  Invisible  Iron  Fence. 

fig.  41,  no  wall  is  used,  but  a  slight  iron  or  wooden  fence  is 
placed  on  the  inner  slope,  and  is  so  slanted  that  it  makes  an 
effectual  barrier  from  without,  while  it  is  hardly  at  all  per- 
ceptible from  the  inside.     It  may  be  remarked  in  passing 


Practical   Considerations  145 

that  it  is,  of  course,  more  difficult  for  man  or  animals  to  get 
over  a  fence  that  slopes  towards  them.  An  ordinary  wire 
or  hurdle  fence  is,  in  fig.  42,  put  in  the  bottom  of  the  exca- 
vation, this  latter  being  just  deep  enough  to  make  the  fence 


Common  Wire  Fence  Sunken. 


invisible  from  the  lawn  of  the  pleasure  grounds.  The  inner 
slopes  in  the  two  last  plans  might  be  used  for  a  collection  of 
the  dwarfer  kinds  of  shrubs  in  irregular  patches,  or  for  spring 
flowers,  when  the  aspect  is  sufficiently  sunny. 

For  outside  boundary  fences  something  that  is  rather 
secure  will  be  principally  wanted.  Iron  railings  on  the  top 
of  low  walls  are  most  ornamental,  and  give  a  friendly,  hos- 
pitable, and  open  character  to  a  place.  Walls  or  close  wooden 
palings  may  be  useful  near  towns  or  in  bad  neighborhoods, 
but  they  should  not  ordinarily  be  more  than  five  feet  or  five 
feet  six  inches  high.  Wooden  fences  are  decidedly  the  n.ost 
troublesome  and  expensive  in  the  end.  Stone  walls  will  have 
a  much  less  ugly  appearance  if  furnished  with  a  neat  stone 
coping.  Both  these  and  close  wooden  fences  may  be  mounded 
against  on  the  inside,  to  the  depth  of  two  or  more  feet,  which, 
if  the  bank  be  made  the  full  breadth  of  the  border,  and  softly 
worked  into  the  common  level  of  the  garden,  or  to  the  edge 
of  a  walk,  will  greatly  take  off  the  height  of  the  fence  from 
the  inside,  and  make  it  much  more  easy  to  hide  it  with  low 
shrubs  or  masses  of  wild-looking  ivy.  Fig.  43  represents  a 
fence  of  this  description  in  which  there  is  a  low  wall  about 
two  feet  six  inches  high  towards  the  road  and  a  hedge  planted 
immediately  within  the  wall  on  a  sloping  bank.  The  hedge, 
when  fully  grown,  would  overhang  the  wall  and  be  cut  flush 


146  Landscape  Gardening 

with  the  face  of  it,  as  shown  in  the  sketch.  Such  a  fence 
would  be  peculiarly  neat  and  trim,  and  yet  quite  country- 
like, in  any  suburban  or  purely  rural  district,  and  it  has  the 


Fig.  43.     Boundary  Wall  with  Planting. 

merit  of  presenting  no  bank  which  could  crumble  or  be  trod- 
den away  on  the  side  next  the  road,  while  on  the  inside  the 
entire  fence  is  as  inconspicuous  as  possible. 

Inside  fences  for  separating  one  part  of  a  place  from  another 
or  for  protecting  plantations  in  a  park  need  not  be  nearly  so 
strong  as  those  for  the  exterior  boundary.  Hedges  in  such 
places  are  mostly  deformities  in  a  scene.  Between  the  field 
and  the  lawn  they  cut  off  all  connection  and  the  field  might 
as  well  not  exist,  as  far  as  efifect  is  concerned.  Around  plan- 
tations, too,  they  are  scarcely  a  whit  more  in  place,  for  they 
give  them  a  hard  and  stiff  outline  and  prevent  the  branches 
of  the  trees  from  sweeping  the  ground,  which  is  a  prominent 
beauty.  Trees  never  show  to  advantage  unless  one  can 
see  distinctly  where  they  rise  out  of  the  ground,  and  how 
their  branches  rest  upon  it,  or  incline  towards  it.  Hedges 
around  them  coop  them  up  in  a  kind  of  nest.  If  the  hedges 
be  trimmed,  as  they  must  be  to  become  at  all  useful,  their 
effect  will  be  decidedly  worse.  When  left  to  grow  wildly 
and  irregularly,  they  may  be  somewhat  less  objectionable. 

Different  descriptions  of  light  iron  fence,  especially  wrought 
iron,  will  be  superior  to  anything  else  for  divisions  in  a  place, 


Practical    Considerations  147 

or  for  surrounding  plantation^  in  a  part  grazed  by  sheep  or 
cattle.  A  wire  fence  is  the  Hghtest,  strongest,  neatest,  and 
best  for  a  decided  fixture,  and  may  be  adapted  nicely  to  any 
sort  of  curves.  Galvanized  wire,  of  which  it  is  sometimes 
made,  is  liable  to  become  corroded,  especially  by  the  action 
of  sea  air.  The  supports  of  a  wire  fence  should  always  be 
bedded  in  stone  or  cement.  If  this  kind  of  fence  be  used  for 
a  straight  Hne  —  across  the  foot  of  a  lawn,  for  instance  — 
where  no  extra  stays  will  be  needed,  it  is  extremely  light  and 
quiet  looking.  The  greater  the  number  of  curves,  and  the 
more  sudden  these  are,  the  more  expensive  will  be  the  fence 
on  account  of  the  increased  number  of  stays;  but  under  any 
circumstances  it  will  be  the  cheapest  kind  of  fence,  taking 
everything  into  account,  and  considering  its  durability. 

A  common  wire  fence  can  be  three  feet  six  inches  or  four 
feet  high,  and  have  six  horizontal  wires,  which  will  exclude 
lambs.  These  last  easily  get  through  the  ordinary  fences, 
and  may  do  great  mischief  in  a  garden  or  plantation.  The 
fence  should  be  placed  at  least  six  feet  from  any  plants  in  a 
garden  or  a  group,  that  cattle  may  not  easily  browse  them, 
or  sheep  crop  oE  all  the  ends  of  their  lower  shoots. 

In  certain  parts  of  a  place  disagreeable  objects,  as  rubbish 
or  yards,  require  to  be  excluded  and  walls  would  perhaps  be 
objectionable  or  too  expensive,  while  hedges  would  either  be 
too  long  in  growing,  or  the  situation  is  so  shaded  that  no 
hedge  could  ever  thrive  in  it.  For  such  positions,  the  rustic 
close  fence,  fig.  44,  composed  of  larch  poles  with  the  bark  on 
and  intended  to  be' partially  covered  with  ivy  and  other 
climbers,  is  quiet  and  harmonizes  well  with  any  shrubs  or 
trees  that  may  be  in  the  neighborhood,  and  creates  at  once 
a  complete  screen.  It  may  be  six  or  eight  feet  high,  or  even 
higher  if  necessary. 

To  protect  single  trees  planted  in  a  field,  a  low  circular, 


148 


Landscape  Gardening 


square,  or  octagonal  frame,  to  stand  about  three  or  four  feet 
from  the  stem  of  the  tree,  composed  entirely  of  larch  or  pine 


Fig.  44.     Rustic  Fence. 

wood,  two  or  three  inches  in  diameter,  split  into  two  and 
the  bark  left  on,  will  be  a  convenient  and  sightly  mode. 


Fig.  45.     Simple  Protector  for  Tree. 

This  frame  can  be  formed  either  wholly  of  upright  pieces  of 
wood,  about  two  or  three  inches  apart  (lig.  45)  and  fast- 
ened to  connecting  cross  bars  inside,  the  four  corner  pieces 


Practical  Considerations  149 

being  longer  than  the  rest,  and  fixed  into  the  ground;  or,  if 
square,  the  sides  may  be  made  of  similar  wood,  fastened  cross- 
wise at  about  the  same  distance  apart  to  inside  uprights, 
the  four  posts  at  the  corners  being  retained  as  in  the  other 
case.  The  guards  might,  if  desired,  be  placed  much  nearer 
the  tree,  and  made  twice  the  height,  or  about  six  feet  from 
the  ground,  in  which  case  the  sides  should  be  filled  in  with 


Fig.  46.     Tree  Protected  by  Undergrowth. 

horizontal  instead  of  vertical  bars.  The  bark-covered  side 
of  the  whole  should  be  presented  outwards.  Strong  iron 
wire  guards,  six  or  eight  feet  across  and  dividing  into  two 
parts,  may  likewise  be  used,  especially  where  the  branches 
of  the  trees  grow  low  upon  the  stem. 

Where  a  permanent  fence  around  single  trees  in  a  field 
would  be  considered  an  eyesore,  this  may  be  dispensed  with 
by  planting  around  the  base  of  the  tree  irregularly,  and  as  if 
by  accident,  two  or  three  common  thorns,  (fig.  46),  with  an 


150  Landscape  Gardening 

occasional  holly  or  kalmia  to  vary  their  appearance,  and 
give  them  more  liveliness  in  winter.  If  left  unpruned  and 
suffered  to  take  entirely  their  own  course  these  plants  will, 
after  a  few  years'  protection,  become  quite  sufficient  guards 
to  the  trees,  and  will  have  rather  a  picturesque  effect. 
Unquestionably,  however,  they  will  detract  from  the  sym- 
metry and  dignity  of  the  tree. 

That  the  color  of  fences  is  by  no  means  unimportant,  will 
readily  be  deduced  from  what  has  been  urged  as  to  giving 
them  a  quiet  appearance.  All  light  paints,  such  as  white  or 
stone-color,  will  be  exceedingly  out  of  place,  unless  the  fence 
is  very  handsome  and  intended  to  be  made  conspicuous. 
Green,  as  harmonizing  best  with  the  color  of  grass  and  vege- 
tation generally,  will  be  the  most  appropriate. 

6.  Outlines  of  Beds.  —  In  dealing  with  the  outlines  of 
beds  and  masses,  besides  the  variation,  freshness,  easiness 
and  grace  of  sweep,  which  it  is  desirable  to  procure  in 
respect  to  such  as  are  to  contain  shrubs,  or  shrubs  and 
trees,  much  may  likewise  be  done  by  the  manner  of  planting 
them.  Although  it  is  necessary,  to  secure  any  degree  of 
order  and  beauty  for  a  few  years,  that  the  shape  of  irregular 
masses  should  be  set  out  in  a  series  of  bold,  well-connected 
and  flowing  curves,  the  actual  outline  of  the  plants,  when 
they  have  reached  some  eight  or  ten  years'  growth,  must 
never  be  supposed  or  arranged  to  take  any  such  figure.  On 
the  contrary,  each  plant,  in  the  front  at  least,  like  the  heads 
of  old  trees  in  a  forest,  should  jut  forward  or  retire  with  a 
curve  of  its  own,  forming  an  infinitely  more  numerous  and 
more  varied  series  of  little  curves,  these  again  uniting,  in 
their  general  outlines,  to  fill  up  and  vary  the  series  of  larger 
sweeps  at  first  marked  out  on  the  ground.  Fig.  47  will  best 
explain  this,  the  dotted  fine  along  the  front  exhibiting  the 
curved  outline  of  the  plantation  as  it  would  be  set  out  on  the 


Practical   Considerations 


151 


ground,  and  the  broken,  inner,  shaded  Hne  immediately 
behind  it  indicating  the  kind  of  shape  which  the  trees  and 
shrubs  would  take,  in  their  front  lines,  when  fully  grown. 

Instead,  therefore,  of  the  outside  plants  in  a  mass  following 
impUcitly  the  hues  by  which  it  is  defined  on  the  ground,  they 
should  stand  forward  or  recede  in  the  most  irregular  fashion, 
approaching  nearest  to  the  front  of  the  bed  at  the  prominent 
parts,  and  towards  the  middle  or  one  of  the  sides  of  the 
recesses,  but  retiring  a  good  deal  in  other  places,  and  espe- 
cially in  those  portions  of  the  recesses  on  either  side  of  the 


Fig.  47.  Proper  Form  for  Border  Planting. 


advanced  specimens  just  named.  In  addition  to  this,  and  to 
heighten  the  variety  of  outhne  still  more,  the  larger  growing 
things,  and  such  as  will  spread  forward  most  on  the  grass, 
may  be  put  here  and  there  along  the  very  front  rank  of  plants, 
the  smallest  growing  kinds  being  kept  among  such  as  are 
planted  farthest  back.  Thus,  when  the  border  comes  to  be 
turfed  over,  if  ever  it  should  be  so  covered,  the  edges  of  the 
mass  will  be  as  broken,  yet  as  softly  rounded  and  blended, 
as  those  of  a  natural  thicket;  and  should  the  front  of  the 
border  be  retained  for  flowers,  the  shrubs  will  still  produce 


152  Landscape  Gardening 

the  same  effect  as  to  outline,  though  it  will  not  be  exhibited 
so  well. 

Mere  rows  of  plants  that  have  length  without  breadth, 
and  are  easily  seen  through  at  all  seasons,  will  ever  appear 
poverty-stricken  and  meager.  Every  group  should  have 
some  kind  of  proportion  preserved  in  its  parts,  especially 
between  its  two  principal  dimensions.  All  narrowness  and 
thinness  will  be  fatal  to  this.  It  is  clusters  or  masses,  not 
mere  strips,  of  plants  that  are  wanted  in  a  garden,  a  field  or 
a  park.  Long  and  slender  beds  of  them  look  too  much  like 
hedges. 

Each  plantation  or  mass  of  plants  upon  a  lawn  will  demand 
to  be  treated  separately,  and  yet  in  relation  to  others.  Its 
own  individual  outlines  should  be  such  as  I  have  described, 
but  these  must  make  part  of  a  series  of  lines  of  which  the 
sides  of  a  lawn  are  composed.  It  will  not  be  enough  to  have 
one  group  well  and  tastefully  defined;  each  group  must  play 
its  part  in  the  whole  scene  and  be  shaped  so  as  best  to  exhibit 
both  itself  and  others.  In  laying  out  a  number  of  groups, 
then,  it  will  be  proper  first  to  arrange  them  in  the  plan  as  if 
they  were  one  continued  mass,  and  then  regard  them  as 
severed  up  by  walks  or  other  divisions,  in  the  way  that  may 
be  afterwards  found  expedient.  -Two  or  more  beds,  where 
a  walk  divides  them,  should  have  their  outlines  arranged 
(fig.  48)  so  as  to  look  Uke  one  when  viewed  from  a  distance. 
The  edges  of  these  beds  towards  the  walk  may  be  either 
broken  into  bays,  as  in  fig.  48,  or  be  made  continuously 
regular,  with  a  verge  of  a  uniform  width.  Either  of  these 
modes  may  be  adopted  at  pleasure,  or  the  latter  may  be 
selected  where  the  masses  of  shrubs  are  but  narrow  and 
small  and  the  former  used  when  they  are  more  ample. 

7.  Sky  Lines.  —  But  the  best  arrangement  of  plants  as  to 
the  shape  and  relative  position  of  the  masses  will  be  unfinished 


Practical   Considerations  153 

and  defective  unless  their  upper  outlines,  when  fully  grown, 
are  properly  calculated  upon.  From  some  point  of  view, 
whether  nearer  or  more  distant,  the  tops  of  almost  every  mass 
of  plants  will  cut  the  horizon,  and  stand  out  against  a  back- 
ground of  mere  sky.  If  nicely  disposed  this  sky  outline  will 
yield  the  most  charming  effects.  But  it  may  also  be  hard 
or  tame,  and  thus  become  disagreeable  or  utterly  ineffective. 


Fig.  48.     Two  Groups  which  look  like  One. 

By  a  reference  to  nature,  especially  in  her  older  vegetable 
forms,  a  few  large  and  comprehensive  hints  may  soon  be 
gathered  on  this  point.  In  the  horizontal  outhnes  of  forest 
groups,  the  greatest  diversity,  and  yet  the  most  pleasing 
roundness  and  interfusion  of  parts,  is  observable.  Like  the 
ground  lines  of  shrubberies  which  I  have  just  attempted  to 
sketch,  there  will  be  a  great  number  of  bolder  or  lesser  curves 
united  to  make  up  broader  sweeps  and  more  expansive  varia- 
tions.    Occasionally  a  tree  or  shrub  of  some  spiry  or  unusually 


154 


Landscape  Gardening 


upright  character  will  spring  out  of  the  masses  of  round- 
headed  vegetation  and  give  increased  variety  to  the  outhne 
without  weakening  the  general  smoothness  of  the  effect,  while 


Fig.  49.     A  Mixed  Group. 

the  edges  of  the  masses  will  be  delightfully  softened  ofif  and 
feathered  down,  so  as  to  unite  by  an  easy  and  graceful  line 
with  the  sweep  of  the  ground  in  the  glades  between  them. 


.^^ 


Fig.  50.     A  Good  Picturesque  Grouping. 

It  is  something  of  this  sort,  in  a  humbler  way,  that  is 
wanted  in  garden  or  home  plantations.  The  sky  line  recjuires 
to  be  broken,  but  not  in  a  hard  or  abrupt  manner.     Trees 


Practical   Considerations 


^55 


or  shrubs  should  tower  out,  here  and  there  above  the  rest, 
but  they  must  not  be  unsupported.  (See  figs.  49  and  50.) 
Their  edges  should  blend  with  other  forms  by  the  softest 
transition.  Boldness,  as  well  as  easiness  of  change,  will  be 
highly  effective.  But  it  should  be  Hke  the  bold  swell  of  a 
general  curve,  composed,  it  may  be,  of  several  parts,  but  the 
outer  of  these  gradually  carrying  down  the  Une  to  the  lower 
and  humbler  forms.  Or,  if  the  more  spiry  plants  now  and 
then  find  a  place,  as  they  may  do  most  usefully,  to  give  greater 
change  and  strength  of  character,  they  should  not  rise  very 


Fig.  51.     How  to  Plant  a  Hill. 

much  above  the  rest  and  should  appear  to  belong  to  a  group 
of  the  more  spreading  and  clustering  kinds,  hke  the  spire  of 
a  church  peering  out  from  ainid  a  grove  of  ancient  elms. 

On  estates  where  there  are  sufficient  variations  of  surface 
and  extent  of  property  to  admit  of  the  introduction  of  such 
a  feature,  a  most  happy  effect  may  sometimes  be  produced 
by  partially  planting  the  summit  and  slope  of  an  adjacent 
hill  (fig.  51),  so  as  to  convey  the  idea  of  large  woods,  of 
which  the  parts  seen  are  but  the  straggling  arms  or  offshoots 
lying  behind  and  on  the  other  face  of  the  hill.  And  if  treated 
with  proper  boldness  and  regard  to  diversity,  such  masses  of 


156  Landscape  Gardening 

wood,  with  their  outlying  specimen  trees  or  bushes,  will 
greatly  enrich  the  hill  and  relieve  it  from  any  tendency  to 
undue  roundness  or  tameness  of  outline.  An  excellent  mode 
for  this  treatment  may  often  be  seen  in  the  deUghtfuUy  pic- 
turesque and  ragged  patches  of  common  trees  with  which 
nature  sometimes  clothes  the  faces  of  hills  of  a  similar  charac- 
ter, such  masses  nearly  always  presenting  a  remarkable  fresh- 
ness, freedom,  and  beauty  of  outhne. 

8.  Herbaceous  Plants-  —  In  respect  to  the  disposal  of 
flowers  in  gardens,  if  we  include  in  that  term  all  the  simply 
herbaceous  kinds  that  are  not  shrubby,  or  at  any  rate  merely 
such  additional  low  shrubs  as  are  grown  out  of  doors  only  in 
the  summer,  a  considerable  reformation  in  the  prevaiUng 
practice  seems  demanded.  The  beds  or  masses  of  shrubs  on 
a  lawn  are  often  entirely  surrounded  with  a  strip  of  ground 
appropriated  exclusively  to  the  herbaceous  tribes.  The  edges 
of  groups  are  thus  most  defectively  and  tamely  finished  off; 
they  have  an  exceedingly  blank  appearance  in  winter;  the 
size  of  the  lawn  is  materially  diminished;  and  such  borders 
can  never,  without  a  great  deal  of  trouble,  be  very  neatly 
kept.  To  compensate  for  all  this,  they  impart  a  little  addi- 
tional gayety  during  summer,  which  might,  however,  be  read- 
ily attained  in  other  ways. 

The  desirable  plan  -would  be  to  dismiss  all  common  herba- 
ceous plants  from  the  fronts  of  groups  oil  the  lawn,  and  to 
grow  such  flowers  in  a  separate  flower  garden.  The  greater 
merit  of  this  plan  is  nowadays  widely  accepted. 

Not  to  banish  the  large  class  of  herbaceous  plants  and  bulbs 
which  could  not  be  thus  brought  together  in  beds,  and  many 
of  which,  more  especially  the  spring-flowering  species,  are 
extremely  interesting,  I  would  grow  them  in  the  places  usually 
assigned  to  them  round  all  the  masses  of  shrubs  for  the  first 
three  or  four  years  after  these  were  planted,  and  until  they 


Practical   Considerations  157 

became  fit  to  be  surrounded  wholly  with  turf,  when  the  lower 
tribes  might  be  consigned  altogether  to  those  back  borders, 
which  faced  the  side  walks  and  were  not  seen  from  the  lawn, 
or  to  such  other  parts  of  the  pleasure  grounds  as  did  not  come 
into  view  from  the  house,  and  of  which  the  shrubbery  walk 
will  be  an  illustration. 

It  must  be  remembered,  then,  that  shrubs  which  are  but 
just  planted  and  insufficiently  established,  will  not  bear  turf- 
ing around  for  several  years  without  injury.  They  require 
air  to  their  roots  to  start  them  freely.  And  any  neglect  of 
this  treatment,  by  turfing  around  them  prematurely,  will 
be  productive  of  the  very  worst  consequences.  It  has  been 
known  to  retard  their  growth  for  many  years,  or  even  to  go 
very  far  towards  destroying  them  altogether.  But  they  need 
not  have  a  broad  border  for  this  purpose,  and  anything 
beyond  four  or  five  feet  will  be  both  superfluous  and  ugly. 

By  keeping  the  commoner  herbaceous  plants  in  such  private 
parts  as  have  been  named,  they  may  be  cultivated  just  as 
fitly  as  if  they  were  in  the  more  exposed  places  where  they 
are  now  usually  grown.  And  they  can  thus  be  allowed  a 
breadth  of  border  which  will  give  them  a  m^uch  finer  oppor- 
tunity of  developing  themselves,  only  taking  care  that  speci- 
men shrubs  are  brought  forward  singly  or  in  groups  here  and 
there,  along  the  border,  to  do  away  with  all  monotony  and 
produce  a  Uttle  more  freshness  and  life. 

9.  Flowers  in  Grass.' —  Certain  kinds  of  flowers,  especially 
spring  bulbs,  succeed  admirably  if  planted  freely  in  the  lawn. 
Crocuses  and  daffodils  are  especially  well  adapted  to  this 
treatment,  and  give  most  excellent  results.  The  poet's  nar- 
cissus is  a  favorite  for  planting  in  the  grass,  but  the  trumpet 
varieties  of  narcissus  are  equally  good,  while  even  tulips  and 
hyacinths  may  be  naturalized  in  this  manner  with  reasonably 
good  results.     In  attempting  anything  of  this  sort  the  biilbs 


158  Landscape  Gardening 

must  be  strewn  with  a  liberal  hand.  They  should  be  planted 
by  thousands,  —  not  by  dozens. 

10.  Specimen  Plants.  ■ —  Where  a  place  is  so  small  that 
there  cannot  be  many  single  plants  grown  upon  the  lawn,  to 
exhibit  their  full  beauty  and  proportions,  it  will  be  a  judicious 
plan  to  treat  a  number  of  the  plants  in  the  beds  or  groups 
mainly  as  specimens,  that  they  may  show  themselves  better 
and  that  the  natural  desire  for  individuahzing  objects  of 
attention  and  watching  and  tending  them  during  their  prog- 
ress may  be  duly  gratified.  Besides  which,  by  thus  making 
each  plant  a  more  or  less  perfect  one,  a  way  will  be  prepared 
for  subsequently  covering  more  of  the  soil  in  the  bed  with 
turf,  and  so  increasing  the  size  of  the  lawn,  or  ultimately 
turfing  over  the  whole  and  leaving  the  best  plants  to  stand 
on  the  grass. 

The  method  of  rendering  individual  plants  shapely  and  fit 
to  stand  by  themselves  is  very  simple.  It  is  not  by  planting 
so  thinly  in  the  first  instance;  for,  however  that  plan  might 
succeed  in  some  soils  and  climates,  it  will  more  generally  be 
found  serviceable  to  plant  rather  thickly,  in  order  to  afford 
encouragement  and  shelter.  It  is  by  early  and  annual  atten- 
tion to  thinning,  and  by  preventing  any  one  plant  from 
intruding  on  another,  whether  as  to  light,  air,  or  nourishment 
from  the  soil,  that  the  best  specimens  can  be  reared.  And 
though  it  may  be  prudent  to  put  in  at  first  such  kinds  of 
plants  at  such  distances  as  will  finally  be  required  for  fixtures 
and  fill  in  between  them  with  commoner  sorts  for  a  tem- 
porary purpose,  it  will  be  wise  in  thinning  to  choose  rather 
those  which  have  made  a  good  healthy  growth,  and  are  not 
really  inappropriate,  than  mere  sickly  objects  which  may 
have  been  intended  to  remain,  and  have  not  individually 
made  progress  enough,  or  do  not  exhibit  sufficient  promise 
to  justify  their  retention. 


Practical  Considerations  159 

Sometimes,  when  persons  have  thoroughly  imbued  them- 
selves with  the  notion  that  specimens  are  the  chief  thing  to 
be  desired  in  a  small  place,  they  gradually  acquire  the  impres- 
sion that  nothing  else  is  proper  to  be  encouraged  and  that 
everything  should  be  made  into  a  specimen.  This  opinion, 
however,  if  fully  acted  upon,  would  lead  to  as  much  sameness 
and  dullness  as  if  nothing  but  dense  and  variegated  masses  of 
plants  were  cultivated.  The  most  beautiful  combinations 
and  the  most  exquisite  variety  will  result  from  letting  a  few 
plants  of  different  heights  and  characters  grow  together  in 
some  parts  as  they  do  in  a  state  of  nature,  where  bushes  and 
trees  often  mingle  their  forms  and  are  linked  into  closer  union 
by  the  tangling  clematis,  lusty  briar,  or  luxuriant  bramble. 

II.  Thickets.  —  Towards  the  boundaries  of  a  place  the 
plants  in  a  border,  especially  if  it  be  narrow,  will  have  to  be 
treated  still  more  generally,  and  with  a  less  regard  to  their 
individual  appearance.  Here  the  aim  must  be  to  obtain  a 
good  undergrowth  if  there  be  trees,  or  to  permit  the  forma- 
tion of  thickets  where  there  are  only  shrubs.  They  may  Uke- 
wise  be  parts  of  an  inner  plantation  or  group,  where  peculiar 
denseness  is  wanted  to  cover  some  defect,  or  to  make  the 
walk  more  perfectly  private;  and  in  these  the  same  charac- 
teristics should  be  cherished. 

Thickets,  besides  being  useful  as  screens  to  various  objects, 
will  be  interesting  both  for  the  variety  and  beauty.  They 
will  form  a  great  change  from  the  more  open  method  of  cul- 
ture, and  exhibit  much  beauty  of  connection  and  contrast. 
There  will  be  a  luxuriance  and  a  freeness  and  an  indefinite- 
ness  about  them  which  will  not  fail  to  please.  It  is  not  to 
be  assumed,  however,  that  such  masses  are  intended  to  be 
as  thick  as  the  plants  will  stand  on  the  ground,  or  to  be  left 
to  a  pure  state  of  nature.  In  that  case  the  stronger  would 
soon  overpower  the  weaker  and  the  better  sorts  would  die 


i6o  Landscape  Gardening 

out,  leaving  serious  gaps  where  they  had  grown,  and  a  wild- 
ness  and  want  of  cultivation  foreign  to  the  character  of  a 
garden  would  speedily  ensue.  The  term  thicket  is  used  here 
to  define  a  plantation  in  which  shrubs  prevail,  and  where 
they  are  kept  but  sparingly  thinned  out,  and  are  allowed  to 
grow  into  each  other  pretty  freely  so  long  as  they  are  not 
likely  to  destroy  one  another.  It  is  a  mass  wherein  the 
plants  are  so  arranged,  and  stand  so  thickly,  that  it  cannot 
be  seen  through,  not  one  which  has  been  produced  by  neglect. 
Undergrowth  will  be  chiefly,  almost  solely,  reciuisite  be- 
neath trees  which  are  growing  so  closely  together  that  their 
branches  cannot  reach  the  ground,  and  the  bare  stems  become 
prominent  and  unsightly  in  consequence,  while  the  object  of 
the  plantation,  as  respects  the  concealment  of  a  boundary,  is 
defeated.  Scarcely  any  plant  is  equal  to  the  holly  for  under- 
growth, since  it  will  flourish  under  trees,  and  is  not  limited 
as  to  height,  and  is  a  thorough  evergreen.  Privet  is  superior 
as  a  rapid  grower  and  of  a  denser  habit,  if  not  too  much 
drawn  up,  but  it  is  deficient  in  the  size  of  the  leaves,  and  in 
not  being  entirely  evergreen.  Rhododendrons  thrive  exceed- 
ingly well  under  shade,  but  require  careful  watering  for  a 
year  or  two.  Common  laurel  will  endure  some  amount  of  it, 
but  are  injured  by  an  excessive  quantity.  All  these  are  ever- 
green and  of  course  so  much  the  more  adapted  for  filling 
up  permanently  the  space  under  trees.  Elders,  dogwoods, 
the  Norway  maple,  snowberries,  and  even  lilacs,  as  deciduous 
plants,  will  thrive  beneath  shade,  though  they  cannot  be 
expected  to  bloom  much  in  that  position.  The  true  secret  of 
causing  any  of  the  plants  mentioned  to  succeed  permanently 
when  largely  overshadowed  by  trees  lies  in  renewing  the  soil 
around  and  above  the  roots  occasionally  to  compensate  for 
the  exhaustion  produced  by  the  more  extensive  absorption 
of  its  nutritive  properties  by  the  trees. 


Practical   Considerations  1 6 1 

12.  Evergreens.  —  As  a  garden  will  only  contain  a  com- 
paratively, limited  number  of  plants,  it  is  a  matter  of  policy 
to  have  a  number  of  these  evergreens,  that  in  the  winter 
season,  when  all  else  is  so  dreary,  it  may  wear  a  moderately 
green  and  cheerful  expression. 

Although  evergreens  may  fitly  thus  prevail  in  a  place,  it 
will  be  unwise  to  cultivate  them  to  the  exclusion  of  deciduous 
shrubs.  The  latter  by  their  lighter  foliage  and  sprightlier 
manner  of  growth  and  showier  flowers  seem  to  be  the  natural 
bodying  forth  of  summer's  richness  and  gayety.  And  this 
glorious  season  would  scarcely  appear  rightly  attended  and 
adorned  without  them.  They  are  indeed  as  thoroughly  the 
life  of  summer  as  evergreens  are  of  winter;  and  perhaps,  of 
the  two,  the  absence  of  winter's  decorations  would  be  least 
regretted  by  the  mass. 

Nor  must  the  higher  forms  of  deciduous  plants,  which  take 
the  shape  of  low  trees,  be  at  all  omitted  from  our  considera- 
tion. These  and  a  few  of  the  more  striking  and  peculiar 
kinds  of  larger  trees  —  such  as  the  purple  beech,  the  varie- 
gated sycamore,  the  scarlet  oak,  the  lombardy  poplar,  and 
numerous  others  —  will  be  invaluable  in  the  way  of  contrib- 
uting variety  and  improving  the  outlines.  It  will  be  suffi- 
cient to  mention  laburnums,  almonds,  the  extensive  and 
deeply  interesting  tribe  of  thorns,  the  double  cherries,  double 
peach,  and  double  almonds,  the  sumachs,  the  Pyrus  specta- 
bilis,  the  bird  cherry,  the  mountain  ash,  and  the  service 
berries. 

13  •  Garden  Architecture.  —  The  subject  of  architectural 
gardening  has  been  incidentally  discussed  in  i-elation  to  the 
geometrical  style  of  treatment  and  in  other  parts  of  this 
book.  But  the  feeHng  for  it  is  one  that  is  so  rapidly  grow- 
ing, and  so  little  sound  knowledge  of  its  details  is  commonly 
possessed,  that  a  few  additional  particulars  and  illustrations 


1 62  Landscape  Gardening 

become  essential.  In  adverting  to  it,  however,  I  am  tempted 
to  make  a  short  incursion  into  the  territory  of  a  neighboring 
profession  —  architecture  —  with  which  indeed  it  is  so  closely 
connected,  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  treat  of  the  one 
without  trespassing  on  the  other. 

Gardening  and  architecture,  like  all  the  fine  arts,  have 
much  in  common.  And  that  department  of  architecture 
which  belongs  more  exclusively  to  the  garden  has  especially 
a  great  affinity  with  gardening  in  its  broader  principles.  In 
fact  there  is  much  more  relation  between  the  two  than  is 
usually  admitted  or  the  ordinary  products  of  practitioners 
in  either  art  would  at  all  justify  us  in  behaving. 

Architectural  decoration  is  not,  as  many  would  assert, 
unfitted  for  English  or  American  gardens,  because  stone  gets 
speedily  weather-stained  and  sobered  down  in  color,  and  the 
fine  evergreens  and  beautiful  grass  of  these  countries  will, 
in  association  with  architectural  objects,  impart  sufficient 
warmth  of  tone. 

Modern  tendencies  in  gardening  have  been  too  much  away 
from  its  character  as  an  art,  and  the  more  it  is  restored  to  its 
legitimate  position  the  more  nearly  will  it  be  brought  into 
kindred  with  architecture.  On  the  other  hand  the  too  com- 
monly cumbrous,  regular,  and  unyielding  nature  of  architec- 
tural objects,  when  used  for  garden  decoration,  has  tended 
still  further  to  detach  two  pursuits  which  are  essentially  and 
obviously  allied.  For  as  a  house  and  a  garden  are  naturally 
and  intimately  associated,  and  it  is  a  law  of  the  universe  that 
the  boundaries  of  each  domain  in  the  natural  kingdom  should 
insensibly  mingle  and  be  lost  in  each  other,  so  it  is  plain  that 
an  un vitiated  taste  would  be  most  gratified  when  the  province 
of  architecture  is  extended  so  as  to  embrace  lightly  and  har- 
moniously such  parts  of  the  garden  as  may  be  most  con- 
tiguous to  the  house;  while  the  garden  also  in  these  parts 


Practical   Considerations  163 

rises  in  character  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  architec- 
ture, until  either  art  is  so  refined  and  attenuated  that  it  would 
be  most  difficult  to  say  what  belongs  exclusively  to  each. 

Still,  there  is  that  about  gardening,  which  in  the  nature  of 
things,  and  apart  from  the  difference  of  the  materials  with 
which  it  has  to  deal,  constitutes  it  a  distinctive  art.  And 
garden  architecture  has  hneaments  of  its  own  so  decidedly 
removed  from  those  of  house  architecture,  and  so  seldom 
studied,  that  the  ordinary  architectural  practitioner  is  at  sea 
the  moment  he  enters  the  region  of  the  garden.  It  is  less  a 
matter  of  rule  and  measurement.  Its  effects  are  more  to  be 
judged  of  by  the  eye.  It  comprehends  a  far  greater  variety 
of  combinations.  It  requires  a  man  to  be  as  much  an  artist 
(at  least  in  feehng)  as  an  arcliitect,  and  to  be  familiar  with 
natural  groupings  and  tones,  — ■  to  take  in  an  entire  landscape 
in  the  range  of  his  design,  and  not  merely  isolated  or  detached 
objects.  In  fact  the  garden  architect  has  to  make  a  general 
picture  and  not  simply  to  set  a  work  of  art,  as  it  were,  on  a 
soHtary  pedestal. 

The  province  of  garden  architecture  is  primarily  to  supply 
fitting  appendages  and  accompaniments  to  a  house  so  that 
the  latter  may  not  appear  naked,  alone,  and  unsupported.  If 
judiciously  appHed  it  will  be  effective  in  helping  to  produce  a 
good  outline  or  group;  to  carry  down  the  Hues  of  the  house; 
to  connect  it  with  other  buildings,  such  as  a  conservatory, 
arbor,  etc. ;  to  provide  a  proper  basement  for  the  house ;  to 
afford  shelter  and  privacy  to  a  flower  garden;  to  extend  the 
facade  or  frontage  of  a  house;  to  shut  out  back  yards,  offices, 
etc. ;  to  enrich,  vary,  and  enliven  the  garden ;  to  supply  con- 
veniences, such  as  shelter,  receptacles  for  birds,  plants,  sculp- 
ture, etc.,  with  museums  for  works  of  art  or  specimens  of 
natural  history,  and  supports  for  climbing  plants;  to  indicate 
refinement,  wealth,  and  a  love  of  art;  and  otherwise  to  blend 


164  Landscape  Gardening 

the  various  constituents  of  a  garden  with  the  house  and 
harmonize  the  two  by  communicating  a  more  artistic  tone 
to  the  garden. 

Wing  walls  to  a  house,  broken  by  a  conservatory,  and  ter- 
minated by  a  summer  house,  aviary,  museum,  or  sculpture 
room ;  corridors,  similarly  broken  and  terminated,  and  glazed 
or  open  so  as  merely  to  form  covered  ways;  viaducts,  aque- 
ducts, arbors,  arches,  arcades,  tunnels,  boathouses,  temples, 
prospect  and  flag  towers;  with  an  almost  infinite  number  of 
smaller  objects,  such  as  sculptured  figures,  sundials,  statu- 
ary, pillars,  obehsks, terrace  walls, etc., constitute  the  elements 
with  which  garden  architecture  has  to  work. 

In  its  leading  traits  it  necessarily  comes  within  the  same 
category  as  house  architecture,  and  is  governed  by  the  same 
principles.  Like  the  house  it  should  exhibit  design,  some 
degree  of  symmetry,  harmony  of  parts,  unity  of  expression, 
consistency  of  style,  fitness  for  the  locaHty,  adaptation  for 
the  intended  purpose,  and  stabihty  and  permanence  of  ap- 
pearance. 

But  it  should  also  display  a  greater  amount  of  lightness 
and  elegance;  a  comparative  absence  of  regularity;  a  decora- 
tive rather  than  an  exclusively  useful  purpose;  a  superior 
variety  of  outhne;  extreme  attention  to  general  grouping;  a 
blending  of  its  forms  with  those  of  nature;  an  especial  regard 
for  placing  its  creations  where  they  will  have  a  distinct  mean- 
ing and  object;  a  leaning  to  the  use  of  good  materials,  but 
somewhat  rougher  than  those  employed  in  the  house;  a  pref- 
erence rather  for  a  picturesque  outHne  than  for  mere  orna- 
mental details;  and,  as  a  most  important  characteristic,  a 
marked  boldness  and  prominence  of  parts.  Indeed,  pic- 
turesqueness,  such  as  would  be  occasioned  by  changes  of 
level  in  the  ground,  by  diversity  in  the  heights  of  walls,  by 
prominent  piers,  buttresses,  or  cornices,  by  broad  projecting 


Practical   Considerations  165 

eaves  to  the  roofs  of  buildings,  and  by  any  arrangement  that 
will  yield  depth  of  shadow,  should  be  the  ruling  constituent 
of  garden  architecture. 

Every  architectural  object  admitted  into  a  garden  should 
form  part  of  the  general  plan  of  that  garden  and  fit  into  its 
proper  place.  It  will  create  a  serious  incongruity  if  merely 
put  down  at  random,  or  not  duly  established  as  a  part  of  the 
main  design.  Smaller  architectural  ornaments,  too,  must  be 
adequately  connected  with  and  kept  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  house  or  other  sufficiently  important  building,  otherwise 
they  will  be  too  different  from  the  forms  of  nature  to  appear 
harmonious. 

A  strictly  garden  building  or  object,  unless  very  large, 
should  never  be  obtrusive.  It  ought  always  to  be  quiet  look- 
ing, and  not  violently  different  in  color  from  the  surround- 
ing vegetation.  Hence,  white,  whether  in  marble,  stone,  or 
painted  objects,  is  decidedly  to  be  avoided,  and  a  warm  drab 
or  darker  tint  preferred. 

When  a  terrace  or  other  ornamental  wall  —  whether  balus- 
traded  or  otherwise  pierced,  or  simply  devoid  of  any  relief  in 
the  way  of  openings  —  becomes  the  principal  foreground  to  a 
garden  or  other  scene,  as  viewed  from  the  windows  of  the 
house,  it  will  appear  too  hard,  cold,  monotonous,  however 
much  it  may  be  broken  up  by  piers,  vases,  etc.,  without  some 
aid  from  grass  and  shrubs.  In  all  such  cases,  therefore,  there 
should  be  a  broad  band  of  grass  between  the  terrace  walk  and 
the  wall,  and  a  few  clusters  of  evergreens,  risi-ng  in  broken 
masses  above  the  line  of  the  wall,  or  of  climbers  mantling  its 
summit  in  occasional  patches,  will  require  to  be  skillfully  in- 
troduced; otherwise  the  wall  would  seem  to  divorce  rather 
than  mingle  with  the  landscape  beyond. 

To  pass  from  the  consideration  of  garden  architecture, 
which,  however  seductive  a  topic,  scarcely  falls  within  the 


1 66  Landscape  Gardening 

range  of  this  work,  I  now  return  to  the  subject  of  architec- 
tural gardening.  Its  distinctive  principles  are  as  follows:  a 
strict  observance  of  rule;  a  prominent  indication  or  exhibition 
of  art;  the  maintenance  of  a  decided  harmony  and  connection 
with  the  house  and  other  architectural  objects;  the  adoption 
of  regular  figures;  the  employment  of  rigid,  formal,  and  exotic 
plants;  the  necessity  for  flat  and  even  surfaces,  with  the  use 
of  terrace  banks  or  extremely  regular  slopes;  and  the  produc- 
tion of  a  conspicuous  character  of  dignity  and  repose. 

The  proper  field  for  architectural  gardening  is  the  imme- 
diate neighborhood  of  the  house;  as  an  accompaniment  to 
particular  styles  of  architecture,  especially  the  Italian;  in 
connection  with  detached  architectural  structures,  as  temples, 
plant-houses,  etc.;  within  the  circuit  of  the  flower  garden, 
parterre,  rose  garden,  etc. ;  in  the  gardens  attached  to  a  palace, 
mansion,  or  first-class  vUla,  rather  than  to  a  small  vUla  or 
cottage  residence;  the  kitchen  garden;  and,  where  the  cir- 
cumstances are  favorable,  the  town  garden. 

There  are  certain  incongruities  and  defects  which  fre- 
quently attend  the  practice  of  architectural  gardening  and 
which  should  be  sedulously  avoided.  Some  of  these  are  the 
mixture  of  inharmonious  styles;  the  use  of  rustic  or  unarchi- 
tectural  ornaments,  except  in  remote  parts,  and  where  they 
will  not  be  observed  as  constituents  of  the  general  scene;  the 
placing  of  terrace  walls  or  other  construction  on  a  sloping 
bank,  or  where  they  have  shehdng  ground  immediately 
below  them;  the  extension  of  a  formal  mode  of  treatment 
into  the  park;  generally  the  obtrusion  of  a  flower  garden 
into  the  view  from  the  principal  windows,  unless  it  be  on  a 
lower  level  than  the  base  of  the  house;  an  avenue  or  row  of 
trees  that  crosses  any  main  line  of  view,  or  one  on  the  sum- 
mit of  a  hill  that  forms  the  line  of  horizon;  a  curved  avenue, 
unless  it  be  obviously  laid  in  the  arc  of  a  circle;  a  ground  line 


Practical   Considerations  167 

that  is  oblique  to  the  basement  of  the  house,  on  either  of  its 
chief  fronts;  diagonal  lines  of  walk  on  lawns,  or  walks  crossing 
or  starting  from  other  straight  walks  at  any  but  a  right  angle; ' 
plants  trimmed  into  formal  or  grotesque  figures,  unless  it  be 
the  heads  of  standards,  plants  with  naturally  appropriate 
habits,  or  confined  in  tubs,  being  preferable;  gravel  walks, 
in  flower  gardens,  that  are  inaccessible;  monograms,  or  very 
intricate  patterns,  in  which  the  beds  are  too  small  to  admit 
flowers,  for  parterres;  and  the  employment  of  pavements, 
gravels,  or  sands,  of  different  colors,  in  the  place  of  flowers, 
or  merely  for  producing  variety  or  contrast. 

Among  the  most  characteristic  details  of  architectural  gar- 
dening prominence  should  be  given  to  terraces;  broad,  flat, 
and  conspicuous  walks;  extreme  smoothness  and  polish; 
changes  of  level  effected  by  formal  banks  or  walls;  raised 
beds  and  sunken  panels;  avenues,  vistas,  rows  of  flower  beds; 
walks  and  vistas  terminating  with  some  proper  object,  as  a 
temple,  obelisk,  pillar,  etc.;  rectangular  forms,  or  those  in 
which  various  segments  of  a  circle  are  combined;  with  a 
sunk  fence  and  parapet  wall  as  boundaries  to  a  garden. 

There  are  likewise  many  desirable  accessories,  of  which  a 
few  may  be  noted.  These  are  as  follows:  a  sufficient  breadth 
of  open  lawn  between  the  house  and  the  park;  a  detached 
flower  garden,  with  accompanying  plant  houses,  or  walls  for 
ornamental  climbers,  and  the  opportunity  of  looking  down 
upon  this  garden  from  a  raised  terrace;  a  rose  garden,  in  a 
retired  spot,  with  attendant  rose  house  or  houses  for  delicate 
sorts;  a  winter  garden,  to  be  filled  exclusively  with  ever- 
greens, the  beds  arranged  in  pattern,  with  a  due  admixture  of 
specimens,  and  all  the  plants  selected  with  reference  to  their 
habits  and  the  color  of  their  foliage  in  winter;  a  garden  for 
bulbs,  florists'  flowers,  etc.,  in  some  spot  which  need  not  be 
made  accessible  during  the  winter;  standard  or  fastigiate 


1 68  Landscape  Gardening 

plants;  plants  that  blend  best  with  architectural  objects; 
groups  or  beds  of  plants,  in  which  one  kind  or  class  prevails; 
and  hedges,  whether  to  frame  and  enclose  scenes  that  it  is 
wished  to  detach,  or,  in  a  diminutive  state,  to  make  borders 
and  edgings  to  flower  beds  and  clumps. 

In  applying  practically  the  principles  of  architectural  gar- 
dening it  should  be  remembered  that,  as  extreme  irregularity 
is  a  merit  and  a  beauty  in  most  kinds  of  Gothic  architecture, 
the  garden  accompanying  it  will  also  bear  to  be  treated  in  an 
equally  irregular  manner.  But  in  relation  to  any  variety  of 
Grecian  or  Italian  house,  the  garden,  like  the  architecture, 
should  be  more  distinguished  by  symmetry  and  regularity. 
Architectural  gardening  would  be  out  of  place  in  connection 
with  a  house  inferior  in  design,  or  destitute  of  character  and 
style.  It  is  peculiarly  suitable  for  a  tame  and  smooth  general 
landscape;  but  is  quite  admissible,  for  contrast,  in  a  pic- 
turesque, bold,  and  wild  region.  It  especially  demands  that 
everything  should  be  good,  and  nicely  finished;  that  the  plants 
shall  be  of  the  best  and  most  carefully  selected  kinds;  the 
grass  evenly  laid;  the  figures,  and  beds,  and  edgings  of  walks 
neatly  and  accurately  cut ;  the  gravel  fine  and  well  laid  and 
its  smoothness  not  obviously  broken  by  gratings.  The  edg- 
ings, too,  should  all  be  particularly  shallow,  the  edges  of 
terrace  banks  quite  square  and  even  at  the  top,  and  the  soil 
in  the  beds  and  clumps  very  slightly  raised  above  the  level  of 
the  lawn.  The  spaces  for  specimens,  flower  beds,  and  masses 
of  shrubs  should,  moreover,  be  cut  out  of  the  flat  lawn  and 
not  have  the  grass  curved  up  to  them  as  in  the  more  natural 
style  of  treatment.  And  all  the  Hues,  whether  of  walks  or 
other  edgings,  ought  to  be  extremely  straight  and  regular, 
thoroughly  well  beaten  and  level,  and  the  grass  be  very  fine 
and  smooth. 

In  making  terrace  walls  where  they  do  not  run  along  the 


Practical   Considerations  169 


principal  front  of  a  house,  or  are  far  enough  from  it  not  to 
come  into  absolute  connection  with  it  there  will  sometimes 
occur  a  slope,  of  greater  or  less  steepness,  at  the  base  of  the 
wall,  such  as  scarcely  any  ingenuity  or  any  labor  would 
suffice  to  get  rid  of,  and  where  it  is  most  difficult  to  reconcile 
the  discrepancy  between  the  raking  ground  hne  and  the  level 
courses  of  the  wall  or  of  the  house.  Fig.  52  will  afford  a  hint 
of  the  way  in  which  I  have  dealt  mth  a  case  of  that  sort  by 
keeping  all  the  ground  lines,  where  they  are  in  grass,  exactly 
parallel  with  the  courses  of  the  wall,  and  effecting  the  changes 


Fig.  52.    Terrace  Disguised  by  Plantings. 

of  level  in  the  ground  at  the  points  where  patches  of  shrubs 
are  introduced.  These  shrubs,  being  mostly  evergreen  and  in 
varied  groups,  not  only  mask  the  breaks  in  the  ground  line 
but  blend  beautifully  with  the  wall,  and,  aided  by  a  few  inter- 
mediate climbers,  clothe  it  most  picturesquely. 

The  practice  of  employing  masses  of  evergreens  to  cover 
changes  of  level  in  grounds,  to  break  the  transition  between 
a  terrace  bank  and  a  natural  slope,  to  fill  up  the  corners  of 
terraces  and  relieve  the  hardness  and  bareness  of  their  walls, 
and  in  many  ways  to  reconcile  discrepant  lines  in  the  form 
of  ground,  is  one  which  I  have  largely  and  for  several  years 
adopted.     And  I  have  invariably  found  it  of  the  greatest 


170  Landscape  Gardening 

possible  service,  while  the  result  obtained  from  it  is  always 
satisfactory.  Indeed,  this  seems  to  be  the  only  feasible  and 
really  thorough  solution  of  a  problem  which  every  practi- 
tioner who  has  to  direct  the  shaping  of  ground  about  houses 
must  be  constantly  encountering. 

As  an  elaborate  example  of  architectural  gardening,  on  a 
tolerably  extensive  scale,  I  may  now  introduce  fig.  53,  which 
depicts  a  portion  of  the  pleasure  grounds  which  I  arranged 
a  few  years  ago  for  John  Naylor,  Esq.,  of  Leighton  Hall, 
near  Welshpool.  The  smallness  of  the  engraving  unfortu- 
nately renders  the  minor  parts  of  the  plan  very  indistinct  and 
prevents  me  from  giving  the  full  details  of  the  treatment. 
Enough  of  the  entrance  front  is  shown  to  indicate  that  there 
are  two  roads  of  approach  and  a  large  graveled  space  on  the 
west  side  of  the  house;  and  from  this  front  the  terrace  (i) 
and  the  flower  garden  (5)  are  screened  by  a  handsome  stone 
wall,  which,  Hke  the  house  and  all  the  other  walls,  is  com- 
posed of  a  nearly  black  species  of  trap,  with  white  freestone 
copings  and  dressings.  The  terrace  (i),  which  stands  about 
three  feet  above  the  lawn  and  is  supported  by  a  neat  parapet 
wall,  extends  along  the  northern  and  eastern  sides  of  the 
house,  and  in  front  of  an  ornamental  wall  connecting  the 
latter  with  a  camellia  house  (9)  whence  it  passes  eastward 
and  terminates  against  a  steep  bank,  the  walk  ranging  round 
a  raised  bed  of  evergreen  shrubs  (11)  with  a  stone  edging  to 
it.  There  are  steps  and  communications  from  this  terrace  at 
various  points  with  other  parts  of  the  pleasure  grounds.  The 
kitchen  court  is  at  2,  and  3  points  out  the  back  approach 
to  it. 

A  leading  walk  from  the  terrace,  opposite  the  principal 
tower  of  the  hall,  conducts  us  over  a  viaduct  (4)  of  several 
arches  to  other  important  walks  not  included  in  the  plan; 
and  from  the  viaduct  there  is  a  view  of  the  winter  garden  to 


Practical   Considerations 


171 


Fig.  53.    Plan  of  an  Architectural  Garden. 


172  Landscape  Gardening 

the  south,  and  of  a  small  irregular  lake  on  lower  ground 
to  the  north.  The  flower  garden  is  at  5  on  the  south  side 
of  the  house,  and  is  enclosed  by  an  ornamental  wall  about 
eight  feet  high  with  buttresses.  It  is  divided  into  two  parts, 
separated  by  a  terrace  bank  and  a  low  wall  with  vases  upon 
it;  the  part  5  being  intended  for  purely  summer  flowers,  in 
beds  of  one  color,  while  the  upper  half  (6),  which  is  four 
feet  higher,  is  designed  for  mixed  herbaceous  plants.  The 
whole  is  diversified  with  specimen  plants  and  vases,  and  the 
center  walk  is  terminated  by  a  summer  house  through  which 
the  walk  passes  between  high  banks  clothed  with  rhododen- 
drons and  beneath  the  back  road  by  a  small  tunnel  (8)  till 
it  emerges  through  a  door  in  the  wall  on  to  the  terrace  at  (9). 
From  the  southern  arm  of  the  terrace  an  ascent  is  made 
by  steps  and  an  incHned  walk,  to  a  raised  mound  (10),  on  the 
summit  of  which,  twelve  or  fourteen  feet  above  the  general 
level,  is  a  canopied  seat,  from  which  there  is  a  view  of  the 
winter  garden  and  the  principal  part  of  the  pleasure  grounds. 
A  branch  walk  from  this  elevated  point  descends  rapidly 
into  a  narrow  natural  valley,  commencing  at  24,  through 
which  the  walk  winds,  the  banks  being  covered  with  rocks 
and  roots  as  receptacles  for  ferns  and  similar  plants.  At  1 2 
is  a  basin  of  water,  in  which  is  erected  a  very  costly  fountain, 
composed  chiefly  of  bronze  figures.  The  walk  to  the  east 
and  west  of  this  basin  has  on  either  side  of  it  a  row  of  small 
groups  of  statuary  on  pedestals  alternating  with  specimen 
evergreens;  and  the  octagonal  figure  between  12  and  10  is 
furnished  and  surrounded  by  beds  and  specimens  of  the 
greatest  possible  variety  of  dwarf  evergreens  arranged  as  a 
winter  garden,  the  wall  at  the  back  of  the  eastern  terrace 
being  also  covered  with  evergreen  climbers.  At  13  and  in  a 
corresponding  position  at  the  center  of  the  winter  garden  it 
is  proposed  to  put  large  groups  of  bronze  figures,  on  pedes- 


Practical   Considerations  173 

tals,  and  the  squares  which  will  be  noticed  in  the  walks  to 
the  east  and  west  of  the  winter  garden  contain  vases  on 
pedestals  in  their  centers.  The  ground  falls  rapidly  from  13 
towards  the  viaduct  (4)  and  continues  to  descend  on  the 
northern  side  of  this  latter.  At  14  is  a  drying  ground,  and 
18  a  yard  for  receiving  rubbish  and  for  the  gardener's  use, 
there  being  also  a  small  tool-shed  between  it  and  the  terrace. 
The  kitchen  garden,  garden  yard,  and  sheds  lying  at  a  con- 
siderable distance,  and  being  on  very  much  higher  ground, 
it  is  convenient  to  have  the  means  of  depositing  rubbish  and 
storing  tools  at  this  point. 

Several  projecting  parts  or  bastions,  for  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  more  variety,  are  made  in  the  principal  terrace, 
and  the  effect  is  further  heightened  by  the  introduction  of 
vases  into  these.  At  15  are  two  urn-shaped  vases  of  Aber- 
deen granite  or  other  dark  material,  while  there  are  two 
sundials  on  white  stone  pedestals  at  16  and  a  large  white 
Warwick  vase  at  17. 

The  walk  between  7  and  8  is,  as  has  been  mentioned,  cut 
through  between  high  banks,  the  natural  level  there  being 
twelve  or  fourteen  feet  above  that  of  the  flower  garden. 
Flights  of  steps  ascend  from  this  walk  to  a  detached  space 
(19),  which  was  arranged  for  a  rosary.  In  the  center  of  this 
plot  is  a  basin  of  water,  intended  to  be  canopied  by  a  wire 
temple  for  supporting  climbing  roses  which  would  thus  be 
reflected  in  the  water.  At  20  is  a  rustic  summer  house  with 
an  open  porch  from  the  principal  walk  to  it,  and  this  was  to 
be  the  medium  of  exhibiting  the  freer  growing  and  more 
rambling  kinds  of  climbing  roses  which  would  scramble  over 
both  the  sides  and  roof  of  the  summer  house.  Two  span- 
roofed  glass  houses  (21  and  22)  were  to  be  placed  at  the 
sides  of  the  garden,  for  receiving  the  more  tender  sorts  of  ■ 
roses,  the  one  house  (22),  which  is  nearest  the  back  road 


174  Landscape  Gardening 

being  heated,  and  the  other  not.  It  was  proposed  to  plant 
out  the  roses  in  these  houses,  and  train  cHmbers  also  to  the 
rafters,  and  use  the  low  external  wall  for  supporting  the 
dwarfer  and  more  deHcate  varieties.  The  beds  in  the  rosary 
are  arranged  to  receive  one  family  each,  and  space  is  allotted 
for  standards  and  pole  roses,  the  whole  being  screened  from 
the  back  road  and  the  park  by  a  plantation,  chiefly  filled 
with  evergreen  shrubs. 

The  ground  at  23  rises  rather  abruptly  towards  the  east 
and  becomes  an  appropriate  position  for  accommodating 
some  of  the  finer  members  of  the  coniferous  tribe,  wliich, 
being  scattered  in  groups  on  this  grassy  bank,  show^  them- 
selves to  advantage,  and  associate  well  with  the  winter  gar- 
den. They  are  backed,  as  is  the  whole  of  the  pleasure  ground 
to  the  east  and  south,  by  an  old  wood  of  oaks,  larches,  and 
spruces.  The  small  circles  at  25  enclose  two  specimens  of 
the  Cedrus  deodora,  and  there  are  masses  of  evergreens  and 
a  very  picturesque  old  oak  in  the  larger  circle. 


CHAPTER   VI 

Particular  Objects 

Another  step  towards  what  is  practical  has  now  to  be 
made.  Several  peculiar  and  more  definite  objects  which 
could  not  with  propriety  be  called  general  because  they  apply 
to  special  cases  and  less  common  circumstances  have  here 
to  be  discussed.  And  in  thus  traveling  towards  minuter 
matters,  I  cannot  do  better  than  begin  with  noticing  the 
influence  of  little  things  on  all  questions  of  taste. 

I .  Small  Matters.  —  As  most  of  the  comforts  and  all  the 
elegancies  and  refinements  of  life  consist  in  attention  to 
numerous  small  matters  which  are  in  themselves  insignificant 
but  which  together  compose  a  beautiful  and  agreeable  whole, 
so  the  expression  and  character  of  a  garden  will  be  cultivated 
and  tasteful  or  otherwise  according  as  its  minor  features  are 
well  arranged  and  well  executed.  It  is  surprising  how  much 
a  few  trifling  objects  or  circumstances  may  do  in  the  way  of 
imparting  tone  to  a  place.  There  is  comparatively  little 
difference  between  the  mode  in  which  a  first-rate  artist  and  an 
inferior  one  would  work  up  a  picture  consisting  of  the  same 
elements,  but  in  that  Httle  what  a  world  of  meaning  and 
expression  might  be  conveyed!  In  laying  out  a  garden,  too, 
where  much  the  same  general  features  have  to  be  dealt  with, 
how  much  alike,  yet  how  very  distinct,  would  be  the  products 
of  an  untutored  and  unskillful  operator  and  the  creations  of 
the  studied,  practiced,  and  delicately  perceptive  lover  of  art. 

A  lame  or  imperfect  curve;  an  artificial  or  abrupt  connection 
of  lines  in  reference  to  raised  ground;  deep  and  clumsy  edg- 
175 


176  Landscape  Gardening 

ings  to  walks;  the  arrangement  of  plants  in  rows  in  irregular 
gardening,  or  the  occurrence  of  three  conspicuous  specimens 
nearly  in  a  row  upon  a  lawn,  where  a  decided  line  is  not 
sought;  plants  that  should  be  in  a  row,  at  all  out  of  the  Une; 
specimens  not  placed  exactly  in  the  middle  of  a  circle,  or 
planted  with  an  inclination  to  one  side  where  they  ought  to 
be  upright;  wavy  Hnes  in  near  and  parallel  association  with 
such  as  are  straight;  unmeaning  and  sudden  inequalities  of 
surface  in  a  lawn;  —  these  are  things  which  are  of  very  slight 
moment,  regarded  individually,  but  of  great  and  weighty 
influence  upon  the  general  character  of  a  garden. 

Where  a  pleasing  and  refined  expression  is  aimed  at,  then, 
there  must  be  no  fancied  superiority  to  Httle  things,  no  neglect 
of  the  elegancies  of  finish,  no  inattention  to  the  most  delicate 
propriety.  And  the  less  perfect  and  effective  a  garden  is,  the 
more  will  it  be  necessary  to  consider  and  polish  the  most 
minute  of  its  parts;  for,  while  striking  and  extraordinary 
things  may  pass  off  a  few  deficiencies  without  exciting"  obser- 
vation, such  as  are  of  an  inferior  and  more  commonplace 
stamp  will  need  all  the  aid  they  can  derive  from  minor  details 
to  preserve  them  from  the  lowest  mediocrity. 

2.  Mounds  and  banks  are  features  with  which  a  great  deal 
may  be  accomplished  in  a  garden,  if  they  be  properly  treated. 
As  frequently  met  with,  they  are  the  greatest  possible  eye- 
sores, altogether  destitute  of  beauty  and  having  no  visible 
relation  to  the  general  surface.  They  are  commonly  either 
long  straight  ridges  or  banks,  such  as  a  hedger  would  throw 
up,  only  with  the  sides  softened  away;  or  are  mere  lumps  of 
earth,  pretty  nearly  resembHng  compost  or  manure  heaps. 

The  commonest  use  of  mounds  to-day  in  America,  and 
doubtless  the  best  use  —  if  indeed  not  the  only  legitimate 
employment  —  is  to  form  a  closed  boundary  about  a  garden 
or  park.     Such  a  raised  border  mound  will  nearly  always  be 


Particular  Objects  177 

completely  planted  with  heavy  masses  of  trees  and  shrub- 
bery, so  that  the  minute  conformations  of  its  design  will  not 
greatly  affect  the  visible  result. 

The  great  point  to  be  attempted  in  mounds  is  some  degree 
of  naturalness  and  connection  with  the  other  parts  of  the 
ground.  They  should  not  at  once  show  that  they  have  been 
put  in  their  place  by  art,  and  solely  for  some  purpose  of  con- 
venience. But  this  they  always  will  do  when  they  rise  sud- 
denly from  the  ordinary  level  and  do  not  at  all  appear  to 
belong  to  the  rest  of  the  ground.  In  nature,  where  swells 
and  undulations  of  mere  earth  occur,  without  any  rocky  con- 
stituents, the  greatest  possible  softness  and  extenuation  are 
perceptible  in  the  lower  lines,  which  blend  with  the  sur- 
rounding land  in  the  most  gradual  manner.  And  even  with 
rocky  hills  the  contour  lines  are  mostly  gentle,  except  in  a 
few  rugged  parts,  and  the  base,  by  its  natural  formation 
or  by  the  constant  accumulation  of  soil  and  fragments  washed 
from  above,  is  usually  carried  out  with  a  gracefully  pro- 
longed sweep  till  it  blends  with  the  hollows  or  plains. 

To  realize  much  of  natural  freedom  and  still  more  of  beauty 
a  raised  bank  or  mound  (always  excepting  a  terrace  bank  of 
which  I  do  not  treat  in  this  place)  should  be  varied  in  its 
ground  outline  and  have  more  or  less  undulation  on  its  sur- 
face. A  bank  that  is  backed  by  a  wall  need  be  no  exception 
unless  it  is  to  be  covered  with  grass,  when  it  should  be  man- 
aged as  a  terrace.  Hard  and  straight  lines  never  look  well  in 
contact  with  flowing  ones,  but  if  the  bank  is  to  be  planted 
the  wall  will  be  hidden. 

For  the  outlines  of  a  mound  or  bank  intended  as  the 
groundwork  of  a  plantation,  the  directions  given  a  few  pages 
back,  for  shaping  masses  of  plantings,  generally  wall  apply 
just  as  forcibly  here.  They  should  be  bold  in  some  parts, 
always  free,  adapt  themselves  to  the  form  of  walks,  or  the 


1/8  Landscape  Gardening 

intended  shape  of  a  lawn,  and  to  the  objects  for  which  they 
are  made,  becoming  broader  where  large  and  ugly  things  have 
to  be  concealed,  and  narrower  where  they  are  less  urgently 
wanted. 

In  shaping  the  outhnes  of  any  raised  masses  of  earth,  a 
correct  and  practiced  eye  will  be  the  safest  guide.  Never- 
theless, it  may  be  remarked  that  all  the  more  prominent  and 
higher  points  should  also  be  the  fullest,  the  roundest,  and 
the  steepest,  while  the  retiring  parts  can  be  scooped  out 
and  sloped  back  into  a  kind  of  hollow  basin.  This  is  the 
shape  almost  universally  found  on  the  face  of  natural  hills, 
where  fullness  and  precipitancy  are  the  common  attendants 
of  the  more  forward  projections,  but  are  seldom  or  never 
seen  in  the  recesses.  The  reverse  of  all  this  in  gardening  is 
among  the  worst  features  that  can  be  introduced.  Con- 
cavity should  be  rigidly  adhered  to  in  all  the  receding  por- 
tions of  mounds. 

Perhaps  the  most  influential  characteristic  of  an  artificial 
bank  is  its  being  well  tailed  out  into  the  ground,  and  by  a 
decided  under  curve.  There  can  be  no  resemblance  to  nature 
without  this.  It  gives  the  very  crowning  stroke  of  finish  and 
grace.  But  as  this  point  has  been  more  than  once  previously 
insisted  on  it  does  not  demand  further  pressing. 

Much  of  the  success  of  any  efforts  to  vary  and  undulate 
banks  of  earth  will  turn  upon  the  way  in  which  they  are 
planted  and  the  turf  is  brought  up  their  faces.  The  boldest 
swells  require  to  be  as  boldly  planted,  that  is  with  the  tallest 
description  of  plants  admissible.  The  smaller  elevations  and 
the  hollows  can  be  planted  with  smaller  varieties,  thus  mak- 
ing the  entire  range  a  series  of  undulations  on  the  surface 
of  the  plants,  as  well  as  that  of  the  ground,  the  first  corre- 
sponding in  a  great  degree  to  the  last.  Along  the  fronts, 
also,  the  plants  should  come  much  lower  down  on  the  fuller 


Particular  Objects  179 

parts,  so  as  to  increase  the  effect  of  their  fullness;  and  any 
weeping  specimens,  or  such  as  naturally  send  forward  their 
branches  in  a  more  horizontal  direction,  should  be  placed 
here  with  the  same  object.  In  the  hollows  or  bays,  on  the 
contrary,  the  planting  should  retire  nearly  to  the  upper  sur- 
face of  the  mound,  the  turf,  of  course,  following  the  line  of 
planting  within  a  foot  or  two  in  both  cases.  Grass  may 
even  be  carried  over  the  edge  of  the  mound  in  some  of  the 
hollows,  and  so  far  across  it  as  just  to  leave  room  for  a  few 
shrubs  to  cover  the  wall  or  fence  that  may  happen  to  be 
behind.  Or,  if  there  be  nothing  to  conceal,  some  of  the 
lowest  hollows  may  have  a  glade  of  grass  carried  entirely 
across  them,  which  will  greatly  reheve  and  lighten  a  lengthy 
range. 

According  to  the  several  purposes  for  which  mounds  are 
used  should  be  their  ordinary  treatment.  If  for  covering 
boundary  fences  they  ought  to  be  almost  entirely  planted 
and  should  also  be  continuous.  Where  they  are  placed 
between  parallel  walks,  to  separate  them  from  each  other,  if 
they  are  of  any  length,  several  of  their  hollows  can  be  turfed 
through,  leaving  a  low  specimen  plant  or  two  on  the  grass 
irregularly  in  one  or  two  of  them.  They  may  also  have 
more  of  undulation  than  those  of  the  former  class.  If  a 
mound  be  made  to  furnish  a  good  view  of  the  garden  or  a 
prospect  of  the  neighbouring  country  from  its  summit,  great 
height  should  never  be  attempted  in  a  small  place,  and  it 
should,  if  possible,  form  part  of  a  range  that  it  may  not 
appear  too  conspicuous  and  unconnected.  The  breadth  must 
constantly  bear  some  proportion  to  the  height  or  it  will  seem 
glaringly  artificial  and  a  mere  conceit.  Besides  it  will  be 
difficult  to  convey  a  walk  to  its  summit  unless  there  is  some 
breadth  to  wind  around. 

Such  a  mound  as  the  last-named  may  be  partially  planted 


i8o  Landscape   Gardening 

with  close  tufts  or  clusters  of  shrubs,  to  cover  the  walk,  and 
shut  in  some  parts  of  the  view.  A  few  low  trees  more  spar- 
ingly dotted  about  will  contribute  to  give  it  stability  and 
character.  The  walk  should  of  course  be  quite  narrow,  and 
may  ascend  by  a  zigzag  route  on  one  side  only,  or  by  curving 
round  the  entire  face  of  the  mound.  It  might  appropriately 
be  composed  in  its  steeper  parts  of  easy  flights  of  rustic 
steps. 

3.  Shapes  of  Trees. — Among  the  trees  adapted  to  asso- 
ciate with  different  styles  of  buildings  there  are  three  distinct 
classes  easily  recognizable  by  the  particular  shape  their  heads 
and  branches  assume.  The  first  and  largest  group  produces 
roundish  and  clustering  heads,  when  their  full  growth  is 
attained.  The  oak,  the  ash,  and  the  English  elm  are  famihar 
examples.  Another  set  much  more  thinly  scattered  send 
out  their  branches  horizontally  throughout  their  whole  height. 
The  cedar  of  Lebanon,  the  varieties  of  fir  or  spruce  (not  pine), 
the  yew  less  perfectly,  the  larch,  and  the  deciduous  cypress 
in  its  usual  state,  will  illustrate  this  section.  The  third  tribe 
which  has  very  few  members  consists  of  upright  or  fastigiate 
trees.  The  Lombardy  poplar  is  the  commonest  instance, 
though  the  upright  elm  is  another  very  good  example.  If 
such  as  have  pointed  or  spiry  heads  be  included,  many  of  the 
second  class  will  come  within  this  also,  —  the  firs  especially. 
Larch,  and  several  round-headed  trees,  in  their  younger  state, 
before  the  upper  branches  get  dense  and  spreading,  will  give 
a  pretty  clear  idea  of  spiry-topped  trees. 

Repton,  in  his  Sketches  and  Hints  on  landscape  garden- 
ing, lays  it  down  as  a  general  principle  that  round-headed 
trees  harmonize  best  with  Gothic  forms  of  architecture, 
and  trees  of  spiry  shape  with  Grecian  buildings,  on  the 
ground  that  the  horizontal  lines  which  prevail  in  the  latter 
style,  and  the  perpendicular  in  the  former,  are  best  exhibited 


Particular  Objects  i8i 

and  relieved  by  contrast  with  vegetable  forms  of  an  opposite 
character.  Without  questioning  the  soundness  of  the  rule, 
which  appears  quite  unexceptionable,  it  may  be  doubted 
whether,  in  the  case  of  Grecian  and  Italian  structures,  at 
least,  the  appropriateness  of  the  fir  and  cypress  tribe  is  not 
the  result  of  association.  The  cedar  of  Lebanon,  the 
branches  of  which  are  purely  horizontal,  is  the  most  magni- 
ficent of  all  accompaniments  for  any  variety  of  Grecian  archi- 
tecture, but  is  not  at  all  suited  for  either  of  the  forms  of 
Gothic.  And  so  perhaps  the  old  ancestral  elms  and  oaks  in 
which  many  an  English  Gothic  house  is  often  embosomed 
may,  by  the  commonness  and  antiquity  of  the  usage,  have 
given  a  propriety  to  the  employment  of  that  kind  of  tree  in 
relation  to  all  similar*  edifices. 

Still  if  it  be  admitted  that  certain  descriptions  of  trees 
accord  with  the  forms  of  certain  architectural  styles,  it  may 
be  fairly  assumed  that  the  use  of  those  trees  in  such  situa- 
tions had  its  origin  in  their  fitness,  or  supposed  fitness,  for 
the  purpose;  and  that,  though  they  may  be  peculiar  to  any 
given  country  in  which  the  style  of  building  to  which  they 
are  now  allied  preponderates,  or  has  at  some  former  period 
prevailed,  that  very  style  may  have  been  founded  on  its 
adaptation  to  the  natural  characteristics  of  the  country,  trees 
not  being  among  the  least  significant  of  these. 

Possibly  I  may  not  be  far  wrong  in  accounting  for  the  con- 
nection which  has  somehow  sprung  up  between  particular 
classes  of  trees  and  particular  styles  of  buildings,  by  a  refer- 
ence to  the  character  of  the  leaves  rather  than  the  distinctive 
lines  of  the  branches  or  heads.  Light,  thin,  and  feathery 
leaves  characterize  all  the  plants  that  look  best  when  in  con- 
tact with  the  varied  class  of  Grecian  structures,  —  the  heavi- 
ness (or  rather  massiveness)  and  regularity  of  Grecian  forms 
demanding  some  such  contrast  and  mitigation.     Gothic  build- 


1 82  Landscape  Gardening 

ings,  on  the  other  hand,  already  Hght  and  playful,  full  of 
variety,  and  abounding  in  small  decorations,  require  more 
of  the  depth  and  breadth  of  foliage  for  which  round-headed 
trees  are  conspicuous,  to  bring  out  their  elegance,  and  impart 
at  the  same  time  a  more  substantial  character. 

Trees  can,  without  impropriety  as  to  appearance,  be  placed 
nearer  to  a  Gothic  than  a  Grecian  house.  Gothic  architec- 
ture is  rather  improved  by  a  framework  of  trees;  Grecian 
only  just  tolerates  them.  With  either  style,  however,  the 
sudden  dip  of  the  building  to  connect  with  it  a  low  wing,  or 
the  equally  abrupt  rise  to  form  a  tower,  may  often  be  softened 
with  advantage  by  the  introduction  of  a  good  and  appro- 
priate tree  in  the  angle,  if  this  does  not  cover  any  window  or 
other  detail  of  consequence.  In  the  same  way  a  suitable 
lower  plant  or  shrub  or  group  of  shrubbery  in  a  deep  angle 
of  the  building,  or  at  a  very  bare  corner  of  it,  will  sometimes 
divest  it  of  a  cold  and  naked  appearance,  and  adorn  rather 
than  deface  it.  If  one  corner  of  a  building  stands  higher 
above  the  level  of  the  garden  than  the  other,  as  will  some- 
times be  the  case  on  sloping  land,  it  will  particularly  require 
help  from  a  good  large  shrub  or  group  at  the  corner  that 
rises  most  out  of  the  earth,  to  give  it  the  requisite  balance. 

The  liigh  ends  of  buildings  frequently  demand  some  kind 
of  plants  to  support  them,  and  take  off  the  hardness  of  their 
edges.  No  building  should  appear  altogether  naked  and  alone, 
but  should  form  a  constituent  part  of  a  landscape.  If  the 
lines  therefore  be  not  duly  carried  down  in  the  building  itself 
and  blended  with  those  of  the  ground  —  a  thing  which  can 
very  rarely  be  accomplished  —  the  effect  of  connection  should 
be  attained  by  accompan3dng  trees.  Where  a  house  is  placed 
on  a  knoll,  mound,  or  other  kind  of  elevation,  some  such 
assistance  becomes  all  the  more  essential.  But  the  trees 
need  not  in  all  cases  approach  closely  to  the  end  of  the  build- 


Particular  Objects 


ing,  as  enough  of  union  of  lines  and  balance  of  parts  may 
be  produced  by  placing  them  at  a  little  distance  from  it. 

No  subject  perhaps  is  less  studied  by  landscape  gardeners, 
or  occasions  more  alarm  in  the  mind  of  an  architect,  than  the 
necessity  that  exists  for  assisting  the  effect  of  houses  by  the 
felicitous  introduction  around  them  of  a  few  trees  or  shrubs 
at  the  right  points.  Without  some  such  help,  a  house  might 
almost  as  well  be  in  a  town  as  in  the  country,  and  the  most 
artistic  combination  of  parts  will  fail  to  satisfy  a  tasteful 
observer,  unless  there  blend  with  the  building,  at  certain 
intervals,  larger  or  smaller  patches  of  green  foliage.  Even 
a  mansion  of  the  highest  and  most  classical  kind  will  not  be 
exempted  from  this  rule. 

4.  Grouping.  —  To  produce  strong  and  striking  effects  in 
a  garden  there  must  be  not  merely  a  tolerably  varied  collec- 
tion of  plants  disposed  so  as  to  give  variety  and  contrast, 
but  groups  of  particular  kinds  should  be  planted  in  promi- 
nent places  that  occasional  broader  masses  of  a  peculiar  form 
or  color  may  be  obtained.  From  three  to  six  or  even  eight 
specimens  of  some  showy  kinds  may  thus  be  planted  in  an 
irregular  group  at  any  jutting  point  in  a  bed  or  on  some 
swell  of  a  mound,  and  will  create  a  very  striking  impression 
by  their  foliage  or  flowers.  They  should  be  placed  near 
enough  to  each  other  to  grow  into  a  thicket  without  injury 
to  any  of  the  plants,  that  only  one  dense  mass  of  heads  and 
none  of  the  individual  stems  may  be  seen,  and  that  the  effect 
may  be  more  like  what  one  immense  specimen  would  yield. 

The  effect  is  even  better  if  plants  of  more  modest  and  less 
conspicuous  character  be  used  in  much  larger  masses.  Spi- 
reas,  dogwoods,  viburnums,  and  the  like  (native  plants  espe- 
cially) can  be  used  in  decided  profusion.  This  is  one  of  the 
great  discoveries  of  twentieth-century  landscape  architecture 
in  America. 


184  Landscape  Gardening 

For  smaller  plants  and  even  for  annuals  the  plan  is  fully 
as  suitable.  Every  one  is  now  aware  what  splendid  displays 
are  created  by  the  various  kinds  of  half-hardy  plants  with 
which  gardens  may  be  decorated  in  masses  during  summer. 
Some  things  in  fact  which  would  when  solitary  be  almost 
contemptible  acquire  a  marked  showiness  if  collected  into  a 
group.  And  many  annuals  that  are  straggling  and  poor  as 
individual  objects  become  in  broad  patches  (which  is  the 
best  way  of  growing  them)  highly  ornamental  and  handsome. 

5.  The  Study  of  Shadows.  — ■  When  planted  on  the  sunny 
side  of  a  garden  or  of  any  part  thereof,  trees  and  shrubs  pro- 
ject a  variety  of  shadows,  which  an  artist  would  rightly 
esteem  some  of  the  most  decided  beauties  of  a  landscape. 
Light  and  shade  is  what  an  architect  of  sound  feeling  always 
aims  to  procure  in  the  exterior  of  his  building,  and  the  plan 
that  secures  a  due  admixture  of  these  will  be  most  praised 
and  admired,  other  things  being  equal.  In  a  garden  scene, 
too,  although  this  is  a  matter  very  little  considered,  an 
immense  deal  of  the  beauty  will  depend  upon  the  nice  arrange- 
ment of  parts  to  secure  these. 

Open  bursts  of  sunsliine  are  not  more  essential,  and  are 
generally  less  effective,  than  shadows  in  a  landscape.  It  is 
during  showery  weather,  when  gloom  and  sunhght  are  con- 
tinually succeeding  each  other,  and  nature  is  shrouded  in 
dullness  one  moment,  but  briUiantly  illuminated  the  next  — 
when  the  outHnes  and  motion  of  the  clouds  are  faithfully 
pictured  on  the  earth  as  they  hurriedly  sweep  over  hill  and 
valley  — ■  that  beautiful  scenery  becomes  far  more  lovely  and 
pleasing.  And  there  must  be  a  compounding  of  the  same 
elements  of  light  and  shade  in  a  garden  to  give  it  its  last 
finish. 

It  will,  however,  be  chiefly  on  the  west  and  southwest 
sides  of  a  place  that  the  shadows  will  be  most  interesting. 


Particular  Objects  185 

The  sun  is  too  high  in  the  heavens  at  midday  to  occasion 
any  but  the  smallest  shadows,  and  those  only  to  the  very 
tallest  trees.  It  is  towards  evening,  when  the  stillness  and 
softness  of  the  air,  or  the  glory  of  the  descending  sun,  invite 
to  a  closer  communion  with  nature,  that  shadows  will  be 
most  conspicuous  and  most  rapidly  changing.  The  lines  or 
grouping  of  western^  and  southwestern  plantations  should 
be  particularly  arranged  with  reference  to  their  shadows, 
that  these  may  be  varied,  but  pleasingly  rounded,  and  softly 
mingled.  And  as  the  shade  from  everything  becomes  exag- 
gerated in  its  dimensions  the  lower  the  sun  descends,  there 
will  be  the  more  necessity  that  the  upper  lines  of  the  planta- 
tions under  notice  shall  be  gentle,  elegant,  and  finished,  while 
the  plants  should  rarely  be  very  large,  or  their  shade  will 
cover  the  whole  garden  towards  evening.  If  the  full  light 
of  the  sinking  sun  can  be  let  in  uninterruptedly  through  two 
or  three  openings  on  to  the  lawn,  the  result  will  be  a  more 
checkered  and  therefore  a  more  beautiful  one.  There  may 
be  a  large  amount  of  pleasure  drawn  from  this  source  by  a 
devoted  student. 

Other  sides  of  a  place,  though  of  less  consequence  in  regard 
to  shadows,  will  not  be  unproductive  of  them.  On  the  south 
margin  it  must  be  a  pretty  high  tree  that  will  produce  any 
very  manifest  effect,  and  large  trees  can  be  very  Httle  tol- 
erated in  that  quarter.  More  than  two  or  three,  at  distant 
intervals,  would  be  decidedly  undesirable.  Further  east  a 
little  may  be  done,  but  it  must  be  set  about  cautiously  for 
fear  of  creating '  injurious  shade.-  All  the  specimens  and 
groups  on  a  lawn  will,  at  some  period  of  the  day,  give  forth 
partial  shadows,  and  this  will  be  one  of  the  advantages  of 
varying  their  outlines  and  arrangement.  As  a  series  of  only 
httle  patches  of  light  and  shade  would  be  wearisome  and 
distressing  to  the  eye,  this  shows  the  necessity  of  having  a 


1 86  Landscape  Gardening 

good  open  glade  of  lawn,  entirely  free  from  plants,  in  another 
and  vivid  light. 

6.  Climbing  Plants.  —  To  furnish  the  means  of  growing 
to  perfection  the  very  charming  tribe  of  climbing  plants, 
beyond  the  always  objectionable  mode  of  training  them  to 
poles,  there  will  occasionally  be  places  in  a  garden  where  a 
small  covered  way,  formed  of  wooden  or  wire  trellis,  can  be 
erected  and  rendered  both  ornamental  in  itself  and  fitted  for 
supporting  a  few  choice  roses,  etc.  Such  an  object  may  either 
be  attached  to  the  front  of  a  wall,  and  be  open  only  at  one 
side,  having  a  close  roof,  when  it  will  be  a  good  means  of 
disguising  a  blank  wall  and,  if  attached  to  the  house  at  one 
end,  will  make  a  dry  and  agreeable  mnter  promenade.  Or  it 
may  be  in  the  shape  of  an  arch,  trellised  all  over  and  capable 
of  sustaining  plants  on  its  entire  surface.  It  may  serve  as 
a  connecting  link  between  the  pleasure  grounds  and  the 
kitchen  garden,  or  from  the  general  garden  into  any  retired 
rosary,  or  flower  garden,  or  other  separate  part,  or  even  over 
one  of  the  common  walks,  where  the  shrubs  close  in  upon  it 
on  either  side,  and  it  will  not  be  seen  from  the  house.  An 
arch  or  pergola  of  this  kind  will  be  very  useful  and  pleasing. 
Wire  is  the  most  durable  and  wood  the  most  effective  mate- 
rial for  composing  it,  and  may  be  worked  into  any  shape. 
It  will  possess  more  style  if,  in  addition  to  the  simple  arch, 
it  assume  without  heaviness  or  intricacy  some  rather  archi- 
tectural form,  in  accordance  with  the  character  of  the  house. 

Anything  in  the  form  of  a  veranda,  or  an  external  corridor 
put  in  the  recess  of  a  house,  would  furnish  another  means  of 
growing  the  better  sorts  of  climbers;  and  would  likewise, 
especially  in  very  hilly  or  picturesque  localities,  or  with  refer- 
ence to  any  house  that  partakes  of  a  cottage  character,  or  that 
would  admit  of  such  an  accessory,  assist  materially  in  improv- 
ing the  outline  and  in  creating  effective  masses  of  shadow. 


Particular  Objects  187 

If  made  sufficiently  lofty,  too,  such  verandas  need  not  at  all 
interfere  with  the  admission  of  light  to  the  windows  of  the 
house,  and  in  summer,  when  the  climbers  would  be  in  fuller 
foliage  and  more  diffuse  in  their  growth,  the  little  extra  shade 
they  would  occasion  would  be  grateful  rather  than  annoying. 

For  the  center  of  a  rosary  or  secluded  flower  garden,  or  in 
the  middle  or  one  corner  of  any  formed  flower  garden  that 
does  not  immediately  adjoin  the  house,  or  at  the  end  of  a 
straight  walk  in  some  situations,  a  small  ornamental  temple 
or  summer  house,  for  training  climbers  upon,  and  supplying 
a  summer  arbor,  will  sometimes  be  a  very  pretty  and  pleas- 
ant feature  in  a  garden.  It  should  however  be  chaste  in 
design  and  not  at  all  elaborately  decorated,  being  rather  of  a 
good  general  shape  than  ornate  in  the  details  of  the  pattern. 

7.  Flower  Beds  in  Winter.  —  Lest  the  occurrence  of  a 
number  of  empty  beds  on  a  lawn  or  in  a  flower  garden,  where 
the  system  of  massing  summer  plants  is  adopted,  should 
impart  to  a  place  a  bare  and  desolate  aspect  during  winter, 
a  store  of  the  lower  kinds  of  evergreens  should  be  kept  in 
pots  and  plunged  in  some  part  of  the  kitchen  garden  or  in 
any  reserved  corner  through  the  summer,  to  be  transferred 
to  the  flower  beds  directly  their  gayer  furniture  has  been 
cleared  away  in  autumn.  Such  a  plan  is  less  troublesome 
than  it  appears  to  be,  for  if  the  plants  be  kept  constantly 
in  pots,  summer  and  winter,  and  merely  plunged  in  the 
ground,  a  simple  repotting  once  a  year,  with  an  occasional 
watering  in  only  the  very  driest  summer  weather,  will  be  all 
the  attention  they  want  for  three  or  four  years,  when  they 
will  require  renewing  by  propagation. 

The  fittest  kinds  for  the  office  will  be  several  dwarf  heaths, 
particularly  the  Erica  carnea,  Cotoneaster  microphylla,  Berbe- 
ris  aguifolimn,  Menziesia  poli folia,  Andromeda  floribunda,  the 
common  dwarf  juniper,  small  spruces,  arbor  vitaes  and  retinis- 


Landscape  Gardening 


poras.  By  a  judicious  choice  and  variation  of  these,  put- 
ting one  sort  only  to  a  bed,  some  amount  of  verdure  and 
liveliness  will  be  produced  during  winter,  at  a  cost  of  labor 
and  materials  which  are  entirely  insignificant  in  comparison 
with  the  effect  reaUzed.  The  plants  should  be  potted  in 
rather  a  poor  soil,  lest  they  grow  too  luxuriant  and  send 
their  roots  too  far  beyond  the  pots. 

8.  Shady  Spots.  —  Beneath  trees  and  shrubs  which  are 
so  dense  or  create  such  a  thick  shade  that  grass  will  not  live, 
and  has  to  be  renewed  every  year,  a  simple  and  convenient 
plan  of  carpeting  the  ground  is  to  plant  it  with  patches  of 
periwinkles  or  English  ivy  where  the  latter  will  thrive.  Bare 
earth,  which  does  not  even  produce  weeds,  and  on  which,  in 
consequence  of  the  number  and  strength  of  the  roots  from 
trees,  a  sufficient  undergrowth  of  shrubs  cannot  be  obtained, 
has  an  exceedingly  cold  and  poor  appearance,  and  tends  to 
make  a  place  look  smaller.  English  ivy  or  the  larger  peri- 
winkles form  a  rich  and  luxuriant  carpet  in  such  places. 
But  these  dwarfer  sorts  of  undergrowth  are  principally 
adapted  for  such  plantations  as  are  nearer  the  outside  of  a 
place  and  those  which  may  run  along  the  sides  of  a  shrub- 
bery walk  in  a  field,  and  they  must  be  well  watered  for  a 
year  or  two  after  planting. 

9.  Treatment  of  Hedges.  —  Where  hedgerows  are  em- 
ployed as  a  boundary  fence,  or  are  used  inside  a  wall  or  pal- 
ing to  conceal  it  from  view,  their  ordinary  unsightliness  and 
hardness  of  line  may  be  very  greatly  relieved  by  a  little 
attention  to  pruning  and  by  fronting  them  here  and  there 
with  a  few  scattered  bushes  of  the  same  or  other  kinds.  In 
assuming  that  a  hedge  is  unsightly,  however,  I  would  not 
be  misunderstood.  When  perfectly  developed,  furnished, 
and  nicely  trimmed,  a  good  hedge  is  rather  a  beautiful  than 
an  ugly  thing  in  itself;  but,  as  I  have  before  alleged,  no 


Particular   Objects  189 

description  of  fence  conveys  an  agreeable  idea,  and  a  fence 
that  is  formal  becomes  all  the  more  distinct,  setting  a  con- 
spicuous limitation  to  a  place,  and  interfering  with  or  cutting 
off  the  landscape  beyond.  The  more  effectually  a  boundary 
line  is  disguised  therefore,  the  greater  latitude  of  dimensions 
will  be  attained. 

One  way  of  dressing  a  hedge  so  as  to  destroy  its  regularity 
of  line  is,  after  it  has  become  sufficiently  strong  and  sturdy, 
to  prune  out  individual  branches  only,  and  not  cut  it  to  a 
uniform  height.  Several  of  the  plants  may,  in  places,  have 
their  heads  individually  cut  down  without  destroying  the 
smaller  spray,  while  in  other  parts,  at  unequal  intervals,  only 
one,  two,  or  three  heads  need  be  cut  off.     By  carrying  out 


Fig.  54.      How  to  Manage  a  Hedge. 

this  plan  with  the  utmost  irregularity,  and  letting  some  of 
the  bushes  grow  up  more  wildly,  a  ragged,  broken,  and  more 
natural  looking  line  may  be  produced;  and  this  is  particu- 
larly important  where  in  the  case  of  a  high  hedge  it  rises 
above  the  line  of  the  horizon  or  stands  across  a  view  that  is 
obtained  into  the  open  country. 

But  however  tastefully  a  hedge  may  be  cut,  its  ground  Hne 
will  still  remain  a  straight  one,  and  to  vary  this  a  few  tufts 
of  bushes  may  be  scattered  at  different  distances  and  in 
different  numbers  along  its  front,  as  in  fig.  54,  and  never 
be  pruned  at  all.  Of  course  such  plants  should  be  put  only 
where  the  hedge  behind  them  has  been  left  comparatively 
unpruned,  and  not  opposite  the  pruned  parts.  In  this  man- 
ner, by  the  exercise  of  a  little  judgment  in  disposing  and 


190  Landscape  Gardening 

diversifying  the  groups,  the  harsh  Hne  of  a  hedge  may  be 
nearly  hidden.  A  wall  or  close  paling,  where  there  is  no 
hedge,  might  be  similarly  darkened  and  concealed  by  the 
same  means,  taking  care  to  prune  down  the  plants  partially 
and  irregularly  at  points  where,  after  they  acquire  their  full 
size,  they  would  intercept  the  view.  The  propriety  of  using 
common  thorns  and  common  hollies  jointly  for  this  purpose 
will  be  seen  when  it  is  remembered  that  they  are  both  indige- 
nous plants,  that  both  grow  naturally  into  irregular  and  pic- 
turesque shapes,  and  that  both,  when  quite  established,  are 
sturdy  and  prickly  enough  to  deter  cattle  froir.  attacking 
them. 

One  of  the  chief  advantages  of  the  plan  is,  that  though 
the  plants  thus  used  will  require  protection  frcm  cattle  till 
they  have  thoroughly  grown,  they  n:ay  subsequently  be  left 
entirely  unprotected. 

10.  Shelter  Plantings. — New  plantations  will  cftcn  call 
for  a  greater  or  less  amount  of  temporary  shelter,  as  they 
may  happen  to  be  in  any  degree  exposed,  or  as  the  plants  in 
them  may  want  what  is  usually  styled  "nursing."  In  some 
exposed  districts  a  few  coarse  and  rapid-growing  kinds, 
towering  above  the  mass  of  the  plantation,  will  catch  and 
break  the  power  of  the  breeze,  and  if  in  foliage,  preserve 
the  lower  and  better  sorts  wholly  unharmed.  Several  species 
of  poplar  and  willow  are  found  to  be  the  most  valuable  of 
such  nurses,  and  their  mean  appearance  may  be  well  endured 
for  a  time,  in  consideration  of  their  services.  They  should 
be  gradually  cut  out  as  they  become  less  needed,  and  entirely 
destroyed  as  soon  as  they  have  thoroughly  done  their  work. 

Poplars,  maples,  and  Norway  spruces  will,  with  a  few 
others,  be  useful  in  more  inland  places,  when  scattered  among 
the  better  kinds  temporarily,  to  give  them  a  good  start.  An 
ornamental  tree  or  plant,  so  far  from  being  injured  by  having 


Particular  Objects  191 

rather  near  and  common  neighbors  for  three  or  four  years, 
is  thereby  aided  in  making  an  energetic  and  more  speedy 
growth;  and  if  the  nurses  are  not  placed  too  close  to  the  per- 
manent plants  and  are  kept  within  due  bounds  they  will 
assuredly  be  beneficial  in  helping  forward  the  plantation,  and 
can  be  taken  up  or  cut  out  at  any  time. 

Exactly  the  same  principle  will  apply  to  shrubs,  among  the 
best  of  which  privet,  common  laurel,  common  holly,  etc., 
may  be  found  of  the  greatest  use  in  encouraging  them 
onward  for  a  few  years,  though  greater  care  will  be  requisite 
here  to  hinder  the  inferior  sorts  from  trespassing  on  their 
more  aristocratic  companions,  otherwise  they  may  do  them 
irreparable  mischief. 

In  those  parts  of  the  country  where  the  prevalence  of  par- 
ticular winds  at  certain  seasons  renders  special  shelter  for 
newly  planted  shrubs  indispensable,  this  should  be  afforded 
on  the  like  basis  to  that  previously  recommended  for  general 
protection.  Light  and  air  must  not  be  excluded.  And  the 
materials  of  shelter  should  be  placed  on  one  or  two  sides 
only,  shifting  them  about  as  the  wind  may  blow  injuriously 
from  any  quarter.  Such  materials,  also,  as  are  partially 
open  and  not  perfectly  impervious  will  be  preferable,  as 
staying,  and  not  merely  turning,  the  violence  of  the  wind. 
Large  spruce  or  pine  branches  stuck  in  the  ground  at  a  short 
distance  from  the  plants  to  be  protected,  or  hurdles  interlaced 
with  the  same  or  with  reeds  or  laths  and  placed  about  a 
yard  from  the  plants,  will  afford  enough  of  shelter  to  them 
without  diminishing  their  hardihood.  If  necessary  the  same 
kind  of  screen  can  be  renewed  in  succeeding  years. 

II.  Edgings  for  Walks  maybe  exceedingly  various,  but 
there  are  very  few  indeed  that  will  give  lasting  satisfaction. 
Grass  is  almost  the  only  one  that  can  be  altogether  com- 
mended for  pleasure  gardens;  and  it  is  one  which,  if  carefully 


192  Landscape  Gardening 

laid  and  diligently  kept,  will  be  sure  to  please,  for  it  has  a 
good  color,  smoothness,  regularity,  durableness  when  not 
under  trees,  and  harmony  with  both  the  architectural  and 
the  vegetable  constituents  of  a  garden.  It  furnishes,  like- 
wise, the  best  ground  tint  for  setting  off  the  colors  of 
flowers,  as  in  a  flower  garden.  As  an  edging,  it  should  inva- 
riably be  fiat,  and  at  an  equal  height  (not  more  than  half  an 
inch)  above  the  surface  of  the  walk  at  its  margin,  with  about, 
an  inch  or  even  two  in  depth  along  the  inner  line,  next  the 
bed  or  border,  to  allow  for  the  washing  down  of  the  soil 
towards  it.  It  must  not  be  too  narrow  or  it  will  be  difficult 
to  keep  cut  and  the  sides  will  be  likely  to  crumble  away. 

Box  edgings  are  troublesome,  liable  to  great  irregularities, 
apt  to  harbor  insects,  not  hardy  in  most  parts  of  the  United 
States,  and  suitable  merely  for  quaint  figures  and  old-fash- 
ioned geometrical  designs.  They  are  the  proper  accompani- 
ments of  parterres  and  small  flower  gardens  that  are  laid  out 
with  numerous  narrow  gravel  walks.  Rough  stone,  bricks, 
thick  slates,  and  tiles  may  make  strong  and  durable  edgings 
for  kitchen  gardens.  The  smaller  periwinkle,  kept  in  due 
limits,  is  useful  as  an  edging  under  trees;  as  is  the  English  ivy. 
The  Cotoneaster  microphylla  is  likewise  suitable,  whether  on 
level  ground  or  among  rocks,  and  will  bear  a  great  deal  of 
trimming. 

The  most  valuable  requisites  in  an  edging  are  evenness, 
diminutiveness  or  capability  of  being  regularly  trimmed, 
quietness  of  appearance  or  harmony  with  whatever  is  behind 
it,  and  permanence.  In  each  of  these  respects  grass  will,  in 
nearly  all  circumstances  except  in  the  kitchen  garden,  have 
the  advantage.  Where  it  is  least  in  character  is  immediately 
alongside  of  any  rocky  surface.  There  the  common  heath, 
undressed,  would  be  most  expressive  and  characteristic. 

Of  late  years,  it  has  become  the  fashion  in  many  cases  to 


Particular  Objects  193 


put  edgings  to  beds,  whether  these  be  fiUed'with  dwarf  shrubs 
or  with  flowers.  In  respect  to  beds  arranged  formally,  and 
occupied  with  dwarf  shrubs,  as  in  regular  winter  gardens  or 
in  peculiar  positions  on  lawns,  edgings  of  some  dwarfer  shrub 
than  the  one  employed  in  the  center  of  each  may  help  to 
define  the  beds  more  clearly,  to  impart  an  additional  air  of 
neatness,  and  to  secure  greater  contrast  and  variety. 

For  flower  beds,  again,  the  same  practice,  where  a  plant  of 
a  dwarfer  and  compacter  habit  is  used  as  the  edging,  may  be 
equally  suitable;  and  if  a  decided  change  of  color  be  thus 
introduced  the  effect  may  become  even  brilliant.  But  the 
system  requires  to  be  pursued  with  judgment  and  caution, 
and  in  reference  more  to  individual  beds  or  small  groups 
than  to  a  regular  flower  garden. 

A  degree  of  quaintness  and  an  appearance  of  antiquity 
are  sometimes  attained  by  surrounding  large  flower  beds  on 
lawns  with  an  edging  of  some  shrub  or  tree,  and  keeping  this 
duly  clipped.  I  have  seen  even  the  common  oak  and  the 
Turkey  oak  thus  applied  and  kept  at  the  height  of  about 
nine  inches,  presenting  a  dense  mass  of  leaves  in  the  summer 
season. 

As  a  rule,  all  sorts  of  freak  edgings  are  to  be  eschewed,  as, 
for  example,  the  wire  edgings  in  vogue  fifty  years  ago,  or 
edgings  of  whitewashed  stones,  or  of  bricks  standing  uncer- 
tainly on  their  corners.  One  occasionally  sees  flower  beds 
edged  with  telephone  insulators,  inverted  beer  bottles,  or 
other  convenient  debris,  which  no  matter  how  curious  and 
striking  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  ornamental  or  in  good 
taste. 


CHAPTER  VII 

^y  Special  Features 

If  a  place  be  separated  into  its  constituent  elements,  it  will 
be  seen  to  consist  not  only  of  a  number  of  objects,  but  to 
comprise  at  least  a  few  individual  departments  that  have 
features  of  their  own  and  demand  peculiar  treatment. 
Should  any  of  these  not  be  very  important  in  point  of  extent, 
much  of  what  is  lacking  in  dimensions  may  be  made  up  by 
extreme  attention  to  the  disposal  and  regulation  of  every 
part,  that  if  there  be  no  palpable  merit  there  may  be  perfect 
freedom  from  fault. 

I.  Fields.  —  To  make  anything  of  a  park  or  field,  it  must 
be  managed  simply  as  if  it  were  a  park,  on  however  diminu- 
tive a  scale.  Its  size  will  not  materially  affect  the  question  of 
design,  for  the  largest  field  or  park  would  only  contain  similar 
features  much  more  boldly  carried  out. 

In  the  arrangement  and  furnishing  of  a  park  the  same 
principles  are  to  be  observed  as  in  the  treatment  of  a  garden, 
only  in  a  much  rougher  and  bolder  way.  There  should  be 
breadth  of  glades,  with  planting  chiefly  at  the  margins,  dis- 
posed in  masses  or  groups,  with  openings  between,  and  fronted 
by  occasional  single  specimens.  Bareness  and  baldness  will 
be  as  faulty  as  on  a  lawn.  The  attempt  to  save  a  few  yards 
of  ground  for  pasture,  at  the  expense  of  all  richness  of  cloth- 
ing or  variety  of  aspect,  will  be  but  a  shortsighted  policy. 

Around  the  sides  of  parks  or  paddocks,  any  smaller  planta- 
tions may  be  composed  of  a  coarser  and  commoner  descrip- 
tion of  plants  than  those  used  in  the  garden,  and  evergreens 
194 


Special   Features  195 

need  not  be  so  abundant.  The  common  oaks,  elms,  and 
chestnuts  will  be  the  most  appropriate  of  these,  with  any- 
other  indigenous  species  common  to  the  locality.  Such  plan- 
tations should  always  be  pretty  dense,  with  a  lower  growth 
of  the  commoner  shrubs  to  give  richness,  massiveness,  and 
depth. 

Very  showy  or  very  rare  and  exotic  plants  will  be  entirely 
out  of  character  as  specimens  in  such  a  park.  Ornamental 
trees  that  are  not  conspicuously  peculiar  may  be  admitted, 
though  not  liberally,  and  scarcely  at  all  if  they  flower  much. 
White-blooming  thorns  or  dogwoods  will  be  very  suitable, 
but  not  scarlet  ones,  unless  in  the  close  neighborhood  of 
the  garden,  and  double-blossomed  ones  on  no  account. 
Shrubs  will  be  wholly  improper  on  the  grass,  except  groups 
where  they  will  almost  adjoin  a  plantation. 

Where  bushes  exist  in  a  park,  they  should  on  no  account 
be  trimmed  at  the  base,  which  would  make  them  look  too 
much  like  trees;  but  their  branches  should  be  allowed  to 
spread  freely  down  to  the  ground,  that  the  eye,  in  glancing 
over  a  series  of  glades,  may  have  to  travel  round  the  bushes, 
and  that  thus  a  more  varied  and  inviting  range  of  views  may 
be  offered  from  different  points.  Bushes  are  sometimes  very 
useful  also  when  sparingly  scattered  about  groups  of  trees, 
in  carrying  their  outlines  better  to  the  ground  and  softening 
away  everything  like  abruptness  or  want  of  pliancy. 

The  kinds  of  ornamental  trees  that  are  most  admissible  into 
private  parks  in  America  are  the  elm,  maples,  chestnut,  and 
all  kinds  of  oaks.  In  the  middle  states  poplars  are  some- 
times quite  in  place.  Where  evergreens  are  native  they  may 
also  be  freely  used,  especially  pines  and  spruces. 

To  form  and  plant  a  park  effectively  requires  almost  greater 
care  and  attention  than  designing  a  garden,  inasmuch  as  the 
trees  used  are  of  a  grander  character  than  the  plants  employed 


96  Landscape  Gardening 


in  a  garden,  and  if  placed  improperly  become  more  offensive 
and  obstructive.  An  error  into  which  the  unpracticed  com- 
monly fall  is  in  making  the  whole  spotty  by  the  too  liberal 
insertion  of  single  trees,  or  by  needless  interruptions  to  the 
breadth  and  continuity  of  glades.  The  glades  are  of  the  very 
last  importance,  and  should  from  the  house,  the  drive,  and 
the  chief  walks  in  the  pleasure  grounds,  be  quite  unmistak- 
able and  decided,  although  their  edges  must,  Hke  those  of 
the  glades  in  the  garden,  be  irregularly  furnished.  Of  course 
the  glades  in  the  pleasure  grounds  and  those  in  the  park 
should  unite,  and  continue  expanding  in  the  latter  till  they 
reach  the  boundary,  where  by  means  of  a  low  fence  or  of 
only  small  bushes  they  must  be  carried  forward  into  the 
more  remote  distance. 

Single  trees  in  a  park,  however  beautiful  they  may  be  as 
individual  specimens,  ought  not  to  be  very  freely  multiplied, 
and  should  rather  as  a  rule  attach  themselves  as  offshoots 
to  clumps  and  groups  than  stand  entirely  alone.  It  is  masses 
of  trees,  varying  in  number  from  two  to  twelve  or  fifteen,  and 
exhibiting  the  most  irregular  arrangements  and  combinations, 
that  are  cliiefly  suitable  for  parks.  Occasionally  seven  or 
eight  trees  of  the  same  kind  as  the  weeping  birch,  planted 
near  to  each  other,  will,  when  the  heads  are  thrust  out  by 
the  expansion  of  the  interior  trees,  cause  the  stems  to  become 
crooked  and  to  assume  the  most  picturesc^ue  outlines.  Such 
a  group  would  have  the  happiest  effect  on  the  edge  of  a  rough 
slope  or  on  comparatively  broken  ground. 

In  shaping  the  land,  too,  while  a  certain  amount  of  smooth- 
ness and  ease  is  desirable  in  the  ground  lines  where  they 
approximate  to  a  garden,  a  greater  degree  of  roughness  and 
irregularity  should  be  preferred  towards  the  outer  boundaries 
of  the  park,  thus  assisting  to  render  the  transition  from  the 
garden  to  the  land  beyond  as  gradual  and  as  gentle  as  possible. 


special  Features  197 

It  is  principally  of  consequence  to  regard  a  park  as  a  link 
between  the  dressed  parts  of  a  garden  and  the  wilder  and 
freer  characteristics  of  nature.  In  its  furniture,  therefore,  it 
should  resemble  the  garden  about  the  parts  where  they  unite, 
and  the  more  general  features  of  the  country  towards  its 
outer  edges.  It  must  by  no  means  be  a  detached  and  iso- 
lated thing.  Nothing  in  nature  is  so.  The  plantations  at 
the  bottom  of  the  garden  may  decidedly  run  into  those  of  the 
park  or  field,  and  be  extended  into  it  as  far  as  comports  with 
obtaining  proper  views  from  the  house. 

Indeed  the  garden  and  the  mere  field  can  be  yet  further 
united  by  the  employment  of  a  shrubbery  walk  round  the 
whole  or  a  portion  of  the  latter.  Notwithstanding  the  charge 
of  affectation  so  freely  imputed  to  walks  of  this  kind,  because 
they  skirt  the  actual  boundary  of  a  small  place,  it  must  be 
averred  that  they  are  very  useful  in  affording  exercise  within 
the  private  domain,  and  in  presenting  the  garden,  house,  and 
exterior  country  in  more  varied  aspects.  In  relation  to  even 
a  large  park,  a  walk  may  often  appropriately  be  carried  for 
some  distance  along  one  or  more  of  its  sides,  or  be  directed 
through  some  of  its  woods,  especially  where  any  picturesque 
natural  elements,  such  as  rocks,  broken  ground,  or  steep 
banks  exist,  or  where  the  woods  adjoin  and  furnish  a  sheet 
of  ornamental  water. 

2.  Shrubbery  Walks.  —  A  shrubbery  walk  should  be  in 
all  respects  more  simple  than  the  garden  in  point  of  art. 
The  curves  should  be  less  studied,  the  margins  slightly 
rougher,  and  the  material  of  an  inferior  and  less  polished 
kind.  The  keeping  also  should  be  decidedly  less  perfect, 
the  dress  and  finish  of  the  garden  being  quite  undesirable 
here.  As  much  shade  and  shelter  as  possible  should  be 
attained  in  such  a  walk,  but  it  must  not  be  without  open 
parts  for  sunshine  and  views.     Here  and  there  a,  seat  may 


19^  Landscape  Gardening 

be  placed  for  rest  or  for  enjoying  a  prospect,  and  clusters  of 
common  roses,  or  particularly  sweet-scented  flowers,  or  even 
patches  of  strawberry  plants,  may  occasionally  be  put  in  to 
attract  persons  to  use  it.  Fruit  trees  may  often  be  used  in 
its  plantations  for  the  same  purpose.  Of  course,  like  the 
garden  walks,  it  should  break  away  from  the  boundary  fence 
as  freely  and  irregularly  as  the  space  will  permit;  and  it  is 
by  no  means  necessary  that  the  plantation  be  continuous,  as 
the  walk  may  pass  out  into  the  open  field  or  park  in  a  few 
parts  for  variety. 

Advantage  should  be  taken  of  any  peculiarities  in  shrub- 
bery walks  that  may  be  favorable  to  the  cultivation  of  par- 
ticular tribes  of  plants,  that  the  walk  may  by  such  means  be 
rendered  more  interesting.  Indeed  a  walk  of  this  descrip- 
tion, where  the  locality  allows,  may  be  made  into  a  small 
arboretum,  in  so  far  as  one  or  more  families  of  plants  is  con- 
cerned, except  that  the  specimens  should  not  all  stand  apart 
and  alone,  but  bs  iispsrsed  through  the  fronts  of  the  ordinary 
plantations  and  now  and  then  brought  together  into  groups. 
It  might  frequently  happen  in  such  a  walk,  too,  that  a  well- 
contrived  little  episode,  such  as  would  be  yielded  by  convert- 
ing a  small  dell  or  hollow  into  a  rockery  or  a  fern  garden, 
could  be  easily  accomplished.  Or  a  pond  for  the  use  of 
aquatic  birds  or  for  the  growth  of  rare  water  plants  might 
be  brought  into  notice.  Or  a  spot  by  the  side  of  a  shrubbery 
walk  might  be  selected  where  a  patch  might  be  devoted  to 
wild  natural  vegetation  in  which  briers,  brambles,  thorns, 
honeysuckles,  clematis,  and  other  picturesque  indigenous 
plants  could  be  allowed  to  assume  their  native  luxuriance 
and  tangle  together  in  unrestrained  profusion. 

In  any  case,  the  sides  of  the  shrubbery  walk  and  the 
ground  beneath  its  plantations  can  always  be  appropriated 
to  the  growth  of  such  hardy  herbaceous  plants  as  violets. 


special   Features  199 

snowdrops,  squills,  primroses,  lychnis,  anemones,  narcissus, 
crocus,  harebells,  and  other  showy  or  early  flowering  species, 
which  can  readily  be  induced  to  carpet  the  ground  in'  suflS- 
cient  masses  to  render  their  effect  conspicuous  and  even 
striking.  Ferns  in  all  their  elegant  \'ariety  may  also  some- 
times find  a  congenial  home  by  the  sides  of  streams  or  on 
shelving  banks  that  are  brought  \^itllin  the  range  of  the 
shrubbery  walk. 

To  enliven  a  park  or  a  field,  and  give  life  and  m.otion  to  a 
home  scene,  sheep  and  cows  may  be  freely  admitted.  Sheep 
of  the  larger  and  better  breeds  are  always  the  most  quiet, 
and  crop  the  grass  most  evenly,  and  are  less  disposed  to 
injure  shrubs  and  trees,  such  as  have  been  reared  in  hilly 
or  poor  districts  being  exceedingly  wild  and  objectionable. 
Horses  and  colts  are  particularly  mischievous  where  they  can 
reach  the  branches  of  trees,  and  should  therefore  generally 
be  kept  out.  Deer  are  similarly  inclined  to  damage  trees, 
and  when  they  are  admitted  will  always  require  extra  fenc- 
ing to  keep  them  from  young  trees  and  to  prevent  them 
from  straying. 

3.  Concrete  Examples.  —  From  the  hmited  size  of  these 
pages  it  is  ob\'iously  impossible  to  illustrate  the  treatment 
of  parks  of  any  magnitude.  But  two  or  three  designs,  em- 
bodying some  of  the  more  essential  constituents,  may  now 
be  given.  The  first  I  shall  present  —  necessarily  on  a  very 
small  scale  —  is  a  plan  of  the  grounds  and  what  may  be 
called  the  home  park  of  a  place  which  I  arranged  for  Charles 
Longman,  Esq.  It  is  named  Shendish,  and  is  between 
Heme!  Hempstead  and  King's  Langley,  in  Hertfordshire. 
The  house  and  homestead  have  been  erected  on  the  sum- 
mit of  a  hill,  where  there  was  an  excellent  platform  for  the 
purpose,  and  whence  the  ground  descends  in  a  convex  form, 
gently  at  first  but  afterwards  more  abruptly,  till  it  falls  into 


200  Landscape  Gardening 

a  valley  on  all  sides.  Unhappily  the  estate  had  been  sadly 
denuded  of  trees  by  former  owners  and  a  good  deal  of  plant- 
ing has  therefore  become  requisite.  The  position,  however, 
commands  an  extensive  variety  of  wooded  undulations,  both 
in  the  middle  ground  and  the  distance,  and  the  great  desider- 
atum was  therefore  to  create  within  and  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  pleasure  gardens  a  suitable  and  sufficient  foreground. 

The  engraving  (fig.  55)  will  show  pretty  clearly  the  way  in 
which  this  has  been  accomplished.  The  house  is  approached 
from  the  northeast  by  a  constantly  ascending  drive  of  about 
half  a  mile  in  length,  which,  after  crossing  the  railway  by  a 
characteristic  bridge,  winds  up  a  natural  hollow  with  the 
undulating  slopes  of  the  park  on  either  side,  till  it  passes 
over  a  sunk  public  footpath  by  another  appropriate  bridge 
(30)  and  enters  what  I  have  termed  the  home  pasture  (29), 
traversing  which,  it  soon  after  reaches  the  enclosed  pleasure 
grounds  and  thus  arrives  at  the  house.  A  branch  to  the 
west  first  separates  from  it  and  skirts  the  home  pasture  on  its 
way  to  the  farm  buildings.  There  is  a  subordinate  drive 
from  the  opposite  direction  (24)  which  conducts  to  the 
house  by  way  of  the  farm  road  and  which  is  chiefly  used  for 
farming  purposes. 

The  home  pasture  consists  of  an  area  of  about  twenty 
acres  and  is  detached  or  fenced  off  from  the  rest  of  the  place, 
partly  for  grazing  purposes  but  mainly  because  it  is  bounded 
to  the  north  and  east  by  a  public  footpath  and  has  arable  land 
beyond  it  to  the  southeast  and  the  southwest.  The  foot- 
path which  comes  from  a  northwesterly  direction  formerly 
crossed  the  middle  of  what  is  now  the  home  pasture  in  a  Hne 
which  would  be  nearly  due  south.  There  being  two  branches 
to  the  path,  howev'er,  it  was  easy  to  divert  it  into  the  line  32; 
and  by  sinking  it  five  feet  and  putting  a  wall  (31)  on  the 
side  next  the  home  pasture  a  capital  sunk  fence  has  been 


special   Features 


20I 


Fig.  55.     Plan  of  a  Home  Park. 


202  Landscape  Gardening 


obtained  for  the  latter,  and  the  persons  using  the  footpath 
are  not  observed  from  the  house.  The  ground  being  well 
sloped  away  from  the  path  on  the  outer  side,  it  is  open  and 
cheerful,  and  being  well  drained  and  formed,  is  really  a  boon 
to  the  pubUc  as  compared  with  an  ordinary  field  path. 

On  the  west  side  of  the  carriage  drive,  between  it  and  the 
farm  road,  there  is  a  cluster  of  old  elm  trees,  and  there  are 
some  old  sycamores  and  elms  to  the  east  of  the  drive,  near 
the  figures  29.  All  the  plantations  and  groups  had  to  be 
newly  made.  In  one  of  the  plantations  near  the  sunk  wall, 
northeastward  from  the  house,  we  may  enter  a  bridle  road 
between  the  home  pasture  and  the  footpath. 

At  23  the  existence  of  an  old  chalkpit  is  made  to  conduce 
to  the  variety  in  the  place  by  carrying  a  walk  to  it  from  the 
pleasure  grounds  and  extending  this  walk  around  and  across 
the  excavation.  In  the  latter  case  the  Hues  of  walk  will  be 
more  broken  and  irregular  than  it  was  possible  to  show  on 
the  plan,  and  the  whole  is  made  the  medium  of  displaying 
rugged  masses  of  natural  vegetation,  of  which  the  wild  clem- 
atis (common  here)  will  be  a  conspicuous  feature. 

A  great  deal  of  earthwork  has  been  executed,  both  in  the 
pleasure  grounds  and  the  home  pasture,  by  reducing  in  some 
parts  and  raising  in  others  to  assimilate  the  general  form  of 
the  land  to  that  which  is  beyond  and  produce  an  easy  but 
positive  convexity  of  shape  without  any  undulations  or  dips. 
From  the  conformation  of  the  surrounding  country  this 
arrangement  became  a  matter  of  artistic  necessity,  without 
which  the  whole  would  have  appeared  trifling  and  artificial. 

4.  The  Flower  Garden.  —  The  flower  garden  should  be 
situated  on  the  warmest  and  most  private  side  of  the  house, 
and  fronting  the  drawing-room  windows.  Or  the  flowers 
may  be  placed  in  a  sheltered  and  sunny  corner  of  the  pleas- 
ure grounds,  where  a  wall  at  the  back  will  keep  them  warm 


y^^^^. 


Plate  XIII.     Vista  across  a  Pond  —  Private  Estate  in  Ueurgia. 
Designed  by  Warren  B.  Manning. 


special   Features  203 


by  protecting  them  and  reflecting  the  sun's  heat  as  well  as 
make  them  more  secluded.  The  same  situation  will  furnish 
the  opportunity  of  growing  tender  climbers. 

The  beds  of  a  flower  garden  should  be  symmetrical  and  fit 
nicely  into  each  other.  All  elaborate  figures  and  scrolls  are 
generally  undesirable,  as  they  tend  to  multiply  work  and 
cannot  be  so  effectively  planted.  Beds  of  simple  shape,  in 
which  no  very  acute  angles  occur,  will  be  the  easiest  to  keep 
in  order,  and  will  exhibit  a  good  arrangement  of  plants  best. 
Flower  beds  ought  never  to  be  large,  or  it  will  be  incon- 
venient to  attend  to  them;  nor  should  the  openings  between 
them  be  very  narrow,  lest  they  become  inaccessible,  or  the 
plants  in  each  bed  be  insufficiently  separated  from  those  in 
the  others.  Grass  evenly  laid  in  tolerably  broad  strips 
constitutes  the  most  effective  division  between  flower  beds, 
as  it  sets  off  the  colors  of  flowers  best  and  gives  greater 
unity  and  breadth  to  the  whole.  Gravel,  with  box  or  stone 
edgings  to  the  beds,  will  not  be  unsuitable  for  some  styles  of 
flower  garden,  especially  where  the  beds  are  large,  or  com- 
plex, or  intended  to  be  filled  with  mixed  plants. 

The  modern  style  in  America  has  reached  pronounced  con- 
clusions with  respect  to  the  use  of  flowers  and  flower  beds  in 
landscape  gardening.  It  is  very  generaUy  held  that  in  the 
free  and  natural  style  of  gardening  flowers  are  to  be  used  in 
only  two  ways:  first,  where  they  can  be  naturalized  in  con- 
siderable masses,  as  may  be  done  with  narcissus  and  crocus; 
or,  second,  where  they  can  be  massed  in  irregular  flower 
borders.  These  borders  may  contain  either  hardy  perennials 
or  hardy  annuals,  or  both  in  judicious  combinations.  The 
addition  of  tender  greenhouse  species  to  these  informal  bor- 
ders is  likely  to  give  unhappy  results,  as  palms,  camellias, 
cinerarias,  or  even  geraniums,  will  always  show  their  artificial 
origin  and  thus  contradict  the  naturalness  of  the  landscape 


204  Landscape  Gardening 

effect.  In  other  words,  they  offer  continual  opposition  to  the 
primary  artistic  motive  of  the  garden. 

In  many  private  parks  where  space  and  soil  conditions 
permit  there  may  be  arranged  suitable  "  wild  gardens," 
which  consist  simply  of  collections  of  hardy  flowering  plants 
naturalized  in  place.  Unless  such  a  wild  garden  be  designed 
with  much  skill,  however,  and  unless  it  be  kept  with  equal 
taste,  it  will  hardly  prove  a  success. 

On  most  private  places,  where  the  grounds  are  designed 
in  the  natural  style,  and  where  flowers  are  wanted  in  con- 
siderable quantities,  especially  for  cutting,  it  is  best  to  grow 
them  in  a  separate  enclosed  garden.  This  garden  will  be 
set  off  and  managed  precisely  as  the  fruit  or  vegetable  gar- 
den. By  this  means  the  flower  garden  is  saved  from  en- 
croaching on  the  artistic  unity  of  the  place,  while  at  the 
same  time  the  flowers  themselves  receive  a  more  suitable 
culture  and  give  a  much  more  satisfactory  harvest. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  we  have  to  deal  with  a  formal 
or  Italian  garden,  the  design  will  often  be  filled  out  to  best 
advantage  by  the  introduction  of  flower  beds.  These  will  ht 
designed  in  such  sizes  and  forms  as  will  best  fit  into  the 
general  structure  of  the  main  design. 

Figure  56  includes  the  flower  garden  and  part  of  the 
pleasure  grounds  which  I  had  executed  for  Samuel  Job,  Esq., 
Holmefield,  Aigburth,  near  Liverpool.  A  portion  of  the 
house  is  shown.  At  i  is  a  bay  window  to  a  corridor,  the 
dining-room,  drawing-room,  and  library  being  on  the  south- 
west front.  A  terrace  walk  (2)  extends  along  the  southwest 
and  southeast  sides  of  the  house,  and  is  joined  to  the  lawn 
by  a  grass  bank  (3)  four  feet  deep.  There  is  a  straight  walk 
direct  from  the  terrace  to  the  flower  garden,  the  latter  being 
quite  flat,  of  a  circular  figure,  open  to  the  sun  and  the  field 
on  the  east,  south,  and  southwest  sides,  and  sheltered  from 


special   Features  205 


Fig.  56.     Design  of  Residence  Grounds. 


2o6 


Landscape  Gardening 


the  northwest  by  the  house,  and  from  the  north  and  north- 
east by  masses  of  trees  and  evergreens,  though  a  glade  to  the 
extreme  north  admits  a  view  of  a  very  pleasing  little  hollow 
in  the  pleasure  grounds. 

Small  vases  on  pedestals  (4)  alternate  with  circular  flower 
beds  on  either  side  of  the  walk  to  the  flower  garden  and  with 
similar  beds  round  the  margin  of  the  large  circle,  5  being 
reserved  for  a  basin  of  water,  which  might  also  receive  a 
small  fountain.  The  names  of  the  specimen  plants,  pointed 
out  by  figures,  may  possibly  interest  some  reader  and  are 
therefore  inserted. 


6.  Andromeda  floribimda. 

7.  Spircea  Lindleyana. 

8.  Daphne  ponlica. 

g.  Hybrid  Rhododendron. 

10.  Cotoneaster  microphylla. 

11.  Weigela  rosea. 

12.  Tree  Ivy. 

13.  Weeping  Elm. 

14.  Yucca  gloriosa. 

15.  Yellow-berried  Holly. 

16.  Ribes  sanguinenm. 

17.  Ilex  balearica. 

18.  Erica  midtiflora. 

19.  Scarlet  Thorn. 

20.  Golden  Holly. 

21.  Cedrns  deodora. 

22.  Irish  Yews. 


23 .  A  ticuha  japonica. 

24.  Narrow-leaved  Alaternus. 

25.  Double  Pink  Thorn. 

26.  Hodgins's  Holly. 

27.  Standard  Weeping  Cherry. 

28.  Cryptonieria  japonica. 

29.  Silver-blotched  Holly. 

30.  Ilex  marginata. 

31.  Perncttya   nmcronata. 
2,2.  Gaulthcria  shallon. 
2,:^.  Rhododendron. 

34.  Variegated  Prickly  Holly. 

35.  Berber  is  aqni  folium. 

36.  Ilex  Madeirensis. 

37.  Araucaria  imbricata. 

38.  Double  Furze. 

39.  Cupresstis  macrocarpa. 


Holmefield  contains  about  twenty-four  acres  and  is  agree- 
ably situated  in  the  Aigburth  valley,  on  a  comparatively  pri- 
vate road,  and  with  views  of  the  bolder  parts  of  the  Welsh 
hills  to  the  southwest. 

For  a  secluded  flower  garden,  apart  from  the  ordinary  lawn 
•  and  either  enclosed  by  shrubs  or  taken  out  of  the  north  side 
of  a  kitchen  garden  that  is  not  walled  in,  the  design,  fig.  57, 


Special   Features  207 


SCALE      OF     FEET. 
10         6  o  lb  20 


Fig.  57.      A  Secluded  Flower  Garden. 


2o8  Landscape  Gardening 

may  possess  recommendations.  It  was  made  for  James  Bar- 
ratt,  Esq.,  of  Lymm  Hall,  near  Warrington,  England. 

Lymm  Hall  is  an  ancient  Elizabethan  edifice  partially  sur- 
rounded by  an  old  moat  with  rising  ground  in  the  pleasure 
garden  and  field  on  the  south  side.  A  little  to  the  eastward  of 
the  south  front  a  dense  mass  of  hollies  and  other  evergreens 
screens  off  the  kitchen  garden,  and  it  is  on  the  south  side  of 
this  plantation,  attached  to  the  kitchen  garden,  that  the 
flower  garden  now  under  notice  has  been  nade.  It  is  con- 
nected with  the  lawn  by  a  grass  path  through  the  screen  of 
evergreens;  and  this  grass  path  (13)  passes  up  the  middle  of 
the  flower  garden,  being  terminated  by  a  summerhouse  (i) 
which  is  covered  with  clinching  roses.  The  rest  of  the  walks 
are  of  gravel  and  have  box  edgings,  differing  in  this  respect 
from  any  that  I  have  yet  described. 

At  2  there  are  garden  seats  canopied  and  enclosed  with 
ivy,  which  is  grown  on  a  wooden  trellis.  In  the  borders  (3) , 
which  are  devoted  to  roses,  there  are  at  regular  intervals 
alternate  specimens  of  standard  and  climbing  roses,  the  latter 
being  represented  by  the  larger  dots,  and  being  trained  to 
poles,  and  to  chains  hanging  between  these,  in  the  form  of 
festoons.  In  the  circles  (4)  are  specimens  of  a  very  dwarf 
and  compact  variety  of  the  common  juniper,  while  fuchsias 
occupy  the  other  circles,  marked  5.  To  the  beds  (6)  were 
assigned  different  varieties  of  verbena,  with  one  sort  in  each ; 
but  they  could  of  course  be  filled  with  other  kinds  of  plants 
that  are  sufficiently  dwarf.  The  whole  of  the  beds  (7)  ,or  two- 
thirds  of  them,  were  also  intended  for  mixed  flowers,  though 
they  could  all,  if  desired,  be  retained  for  summer  flowers, 
with  one  sort  to  a  bed.  The  border  (S)  is  for  violets  and 
other  spring-flowering  plants,  and  the  opposite  border  (13) 
for  lilies  of  the  valley  and  such  things  as  prefer  more  shade. 
There  is  a  border  strewn  with  rocks  at  10,  for  alpine  plants, 


Special  Features  209 


small  trailing  shrubs,  etc.  A  yew  hedge  about  five  feet  high 
(11)  encloses  the  garden  at  the  east  and  west  sides,  and  on 
the  south  (12)  is  a  sweetbrier  hedge,  with  standard  roses 
in  it  at  regular  intervals. 

5.  Rockeries  and  Fern  Gardens.  —  Persons  who  have  a 
fancy  for  a  rock  or  fern  garden  will  do  well  to  keep  it  some- 
where in  the  background  and  not  in  sight  from  the  windows  of 
the  house  or  the  principal  parts  of  the  lawn.  It  may  be  made 
very  interesting  if  thus  secluded,  and  may  be  approached  from 
the  main  walk  of  the  garden  through  a  rustic  arch  mantled 
with  climbers  or  in  some  similar  and  convenient  manner. 
Masses  of  rockery  may  even  be  placed  fronting  the  chief  line 
of  walk,  at  some  distance  from  the  house,  where  a  good  dense 
screen  of  planting  can  be  interposed  between  them  and  the 
lawn,  or  where  they  can  be  made  to  look  as  if  they  were 
naturally  cropping  out  of  a  bank.  Or  they  may  be  employed 
as  a  sort  of  rustic  basement  to  some  outbuilding.  To  grow 
ferns  upon  them,  the  shade  of  trees  or  some  other  objects 
will  be  indispensable;  but  many  rock  plants  prefer  an  open 
sunny  situation,  so  that  rockeries  should  not.  be  entirely 
shaded.  If  accompanied  with  a  small  pool  of  water  having 
a  broken  rocky  margin,  a  few  of  the  rarer  aquatics  and  sedgy 
plants  may  be  grown,  and  goldfish  can  be  kept.  The  mois- 
ture exhaled  from  such  a  piece  of  water  would  be  very  bene- 
ficial to  many  rock  plants,  and  the  jutting  pieces  of  stone  or 
overhanging  shrubs  would  afford  shelter,  privacy,  and  shade 
to  the  fish.  Where  a  clear  running  stream  can  be  turned 
through  a  rockery  and  be  expanded  into  a  pool,  trout  may 
also  be  preserved  in  the  latter;  and  if  there  be  water  enough 
to  dash  down  a  minature  rocky  ravine  in  the  shape  of  a 
cascade,  another  characteristic  accessory  will  be  added.  Of 
course  it  will  be  readily  understood  that  considerable  room 
will  be  required  to  develop  any  such  ambitious  plan.     If  such 


2IO  Landscape  Gardening 

things  are  undertaken  on  too  small  a  scale  they  only  succeed 
in  appearing  ridiculous. 

Rockeries  should  be  formed  as  much  as  possible  of  natural 
materials.  All  the  products  of  art,  such  as  fused  bricks, 
scoriae,  and  the  far  more  vulgar  constituents  of  which  such 
ornaments  are  often  constructed  about  towns,  are  quite 
incompatible  with  any  amount  of  rusticity.  And  this  last 
should  be  the  distinguishing  element  of  all  rockeries. 

As  in  the  material  employed  so  also  in  the  mode  of  con- 
struction followed,  rockeries  should  be  conspicuous  for  a 
natural  character.  No  appearance  of  art  and  no  approach 
to  the  regularity  or  smoothness  proper  to  works  of  art  will 
be  at  all  in  place  here.  On  the  contrary,  the  surface  of  the 
whole  cannot  be  too  irregular  or  too  variedly  indented  or 
prominent.  An  additional  projection  must  be  given  to  some 
of  the  parts  by  moderate-sized  bushes,  or  short-stemmed 
weeping  trees.  Evergreen  shrubs  or  low  trees  will  be  par- 
ticularly useful.  Provision  will  therefore  have  to  be  made 
in  the  placing  of  the  stones  for  planting  a  few  shrubs  and  a 
greater  number  of  herbaceous  rock  plants  in  their  interstices, 
which  should  be  left  broader  or  smaller  according  to  the  size 
of  the  plant  that  may  be  required  in  them.  No  rockery  will 
ever  be  interesting  unless  well  supplied  with  all  such  fittings. 

For  ordinary  practice,  the  materials  of  which  a  rockery, 
however  small,  is  formed  should  lie  on  their  broadest  or  fiat 
sides,  and  not  be  set  on  edge,  much  less  be  placed  with  their 
points  upwards.  Little  deviations  may  occasionally  be  al- 
lowed for  variety,  but  the  mass  will  have  more  appearance 
of  solidity  and  strength  and  be  more  accordant  with  nature's 
teachings  if  each  piece  be  laid  flat,  with  the  outer  edge  shad- 
ing a  little  downwards  rather  than  upwards. 

A  rock  garden  may,  if  its  size  demands  it,  be  traversed  or 
made  more  generally  accessible  by  narrow  walks  just  capable 


Special   Features  2 1 1 

of  admitting  one  person.  These  need  not  be  of  any  uniform 
width  and  should  have  no  regular  margin.  They  may  be 
made  of  some  quiet-colored  material,  and  not  covered  with 
dressed  gravel,  the  mere  stones  of  which  the  rockery  is  com- 
posed forming  the  best  possible  paths,  if  they  are  tolerably 
flat. 

Any  great  elevation  should  never  be  sought  in  small  rock- 
eries. This  would  both  be  inconsistent  with  their  breadth 
and  would  render  them  too  prominent  and  artificial.  They 
should  not  be  carried  higher  than  the  point  at  which  they 
can  be  well  supported  and  backed  with  a  broad  mass  of  earth 
and  vegetation.  Additional  height  may  sometimes  be  given, 
if  desired,  by  excavating  into  a  hollow  the  base  from  which 
they  spring.  An  old  quarry  will  supply  the  foundation  of 
an  excellent  rockery,  in  which  considerable  height,  relatively 
to  the  bottom,  may  be  attained,  and  much  of  boldness.  It 
should  be  seen,  however,  that  in  working  it,  masses  of  rock 
be  merely  wrenched  or  blasted  off,  in  the  most  irregular 
manner,  and  no  sawing  or  cutting  to  an  even  face  be  any- 
where permitted.  Extreme  ruggedness  of  surface  is  what 
would  be  most  characteristic  in  such  a  situation. 

No  collection  of  rocks  should  ever  begin  or  end  abruptly, 
but  should  gradually  die  away  into  the  adjoining  ground 
by  means  of  a  few  carelessly  scattered  groups  or  single  masses 
of  stone.  Attention  to  this  point  will  mark  the  diliference 
between  the  practiced  and  the  unobservant  artist  and  will 
exercise  a  great  influence  over  the  whole  composition. 

Shrubs  with  trailing  habits,  evergreens,  and  a  few  of  the 
less  delicately  branched  weeping  kinds,  and  those  which 
assume  a  wild,  ragged,  and  picturesque  character,  are  most 
congenial  to  rockeries.  The  first  class,  especially,  includ- 
ing the  ivy,  the  Cotoneaster  microphylla,  Berberis  empetri- 
folia,  periwinkles,  heaths,  etc.,  always  seem  in  place  and 


2 1  2  Landscape  Gardening 

at  home.  And  the  more  decided  climbers,  such  as  clematis, 
the  hop  plant,  Wistaria  sinensis,  some  of  the  better  sorts  of 
bramble,  the  wild  roses,  Virginian  creeper,  and  several  others, 
would,  if  suffered  to  scramble  over  the  bolder  parts  of  rock- 
eries and  duly  pruned  and  regulated  so  as  not  to  smother 
things  of  more  value,  be  most  important  and  engaging 
accessories. 

Grass  never  harmonizes  well  with  rocks  if  brought  into 
immediate  contact  with  them.  They  demand  the  adjunct  of 
a  rougher  and  less  polished  vegetation,  such  as  attends  them 
in  a  state  of  nature.  Common  heath,  whortleberry,  etc., 
cut  into  sods,  and  laid  with  a  broken  line  along  the  margin 
of  rocks  and  interspersed  in  parts  with  the  dwarfest  trailing 
evergreens,  will  give  a  good  rustic  finish,  and  may  be  par- 
ticularly valuable  in  connecting  the  rocks  with  any  mowed 
grass  beyond.  Everything  like  a  perceptible  or  continued 
line  (much  more  a  curved  line)  must  be  distinctly  avoided 
in  the  appropriation  of  such  materials.  Rocks  should  join 
the  grass  in  the  most  jagged  and  inartificial  manner. 

Rockeries  can  be  made  to  ans.ver  one  or  two  simple  pur- 
poses, which  will  impart  meaning  and  spirit  to  them  and 
prevent  them  from  becoming  the  expressionless  and  pointless 
things  which  they  usually  are.  Where  there  are  raised  banks 
between  one  part  of  a  garden  and  another,  rocks  can  be 
employed  to  face  the  more  private  side  of  them,  and  will 
contribute  to  their  solidity  at  the  same  time  that  they 
increase  their  propriety  and  interest.  If,  again,  a  walk  be 
cut  through  a  bank,  rocks  may  be  used  to  hold  up  the  sides 
of  the  opening  when  steep.  Or  where  a  walk  travels  along 
a  narrow  hollow  between  two  banks,  the  slopes  of  the  banks 
can  be  partially  covered  with  masses  of  rock.  In  both  these 
last  cases  an  imperfect  imitation  of  a  small  defile  will  be 
produced  and  may  be  made  very  consistent  and  natural. 


special   Features  213 

The  plan  will  be  particularly  serviceable  where  the  hollow 
has  to  be  made  as  narrow  as  possible  and  the  banks  have 
consequently  to  be  kept  pretty  upright.  At  any  rate,  such 
an  arrangement  will  be  infinitely  preferable  to  having  mere 
heaps  of  stones  thrown  together  without  any  apparent  object 
beyond  the  simple  creation  of  the  mass. 

6.  The  Rose  Garden.  —  Roses,  which  are  favorites  with 
everybody,  may  be  fitly  collected  into  a  small  separate  gar- 
den, which  will  then  be  denominated  a  rosary.  Like  the 
rock  garden  or  the  private  flower  garden,  the  rosary  should 
be  detached,  away  from  the  general  lawn  and  in  some  side 
nook  severed  from  the  rest  of  the  garden  by  a  partial  screen 
of  shrubs.  It  can  only,  of  course,  find  a  place  in  gardens  of 
medium  and  larger  size.  From  very  limited  plots  it  must 
necessarily  be  excluded. 

As  with  the  flower  garden,  the  rosary  requires  to  be  shel- 
tered (not  shaded)  and  sunny.  And  there  is  the  more  reason 
for  it  to  be  in  a  retired  part  because  it  is  very  uninteresting 
during  the  winter  season.  It  should  be  of  some  regular 
shape,  with  the  beds  tolerably  bold  and  simple  in  their  out- 
lines. Very  narrow  parts  in  beds,  or  acute  corners,  would 
be  nearly  useless  and  look  extremely  meager  because  few 
plants  could  be  inserted  in  them,  and  these  would  cover  the 
ground  but  imperfectly.  At  the  same  time,  the  beds  ought 
n-ot  to  be  much  broader  than  wfll  allow  the  center  of  them 
to  be  reached  pretty  easily  from  either  side.  And  they 
should  have  divisions  of  grass  or  gravel  from  three  to  four 
feet  in  breadth,  as  the  admirers  of  roses  always  want  to  go 
among  them  comfortably.  Grass  will  always  look  better 
than  gravel,  and  when  it  is  used,  there  will  not  be  more 
than  one  or  two  cross  walks  of  gravel  and  an  encircling  one 
necessary. 

Perhaps  the  best  shape  for  a  rosary  is  a  circle,  or  a  square 


214  Landscape  Gardening 

on  which  a  circular  pattern  is  laid,  or  an  oblong  figure  rounded 
at  the  ends,  or  an  octagon.  A  good  form  for  the  beds  will 
be  oblong,  with  the  ends  rounded,  arranged  in  various  sizes 
around  a  central  circle  and  diversified  by  a  mixture  of  smaller 
circles. 

Since  roses  are  very  similar  in  height  and  character,  a 
rosary  filled  with  only  the  dwarf-growing  kinds  will  be  com- 
paratively tame  and  monotonous.  But  with  the  aid  of 
standards  of  various  heights  and  habits,  and  climbers  trained 
to  poles,  much  interest  and  variety  of  outline  may  be  pro- 
duced. These  auxiliaries  should  not,  however,  be  commonly 
put  in  the  beds  (save  a  single  climber  or  a  cluster  of  them 
in  the  central  mass),  but  stand  by  themselves  in  spaces  pre- 
pared purposely  for  them,  and  arranged  symmetrically  as 
parts  of  the  plan.  Sometimes  a  very  strong  and  brilliant 
effect  may  be  occasioned  by  having  a  few  small  beds  filled 
with  roses  of  only  one  color.  And  a  rosary  may  even  be 
altogether  furnished  by  assigning  each  tribe  to  particular 
beds,  in  corresponding  parts  of  the  garden.  White  and  blush 
roses  make  a  good  mass,  as  do  those  which  have  the  color 
of  the  common  rose  and  particularly  the  dark-flowering 
Chinas,  which  bloom  so  long  and  group  together  so  admirably. 

Covered  archways  made  of  wire,  or  small  open  temples 
formed  of  either  wire  or  rough  wood  with  the  bark  on,  will 
sometimes  be  interesting  features  in  a  rosary,  for  the  support 
of  chmbing  kinds.  To  be  able  to  sit  in  the  shade  during 
summer,  embowered  with  only  elegant  roses,  is  certainly  a 
luxury  of  no  mean  or  ordinary  description. 

The  plan  shown  in  figure  58  is  of  a  rosary  which  I  made 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Dulwich,  near  London.  It  lies  in  a 
sheltered  and  partially  detached  corner  of  the  grounds,  and 
is  connected  with  the  kitchen  garden  on  the  north  side  by 
the  walk  at  the  top  of  the  engraving;  the  walk  to  the  right 


Special   Features 


215 


leading  eastwards  into  the  general  pleasure  grounds  through 
some  wire  arches  covered  with  climbing  roses,  that  to  the 
left  being  finished  by  a  handsome  summerhouse,  and  the 


:-^ 


SCALE  OF  FEET 


Fig.  58.      Deeign  of  a  Rose  Garden 

southern  walk,  which  quickly  turns  westwards,  being  con- 
ducted through  a  small  wood  to  another  part  of  the  estate. 
The  whole  is  nicely  open  to  the  south,  southeast,  and  south- 
west, on  which  sides  only  shrubs  exist.  On  the  other 
margins  larger  trees  mingle  with  the  plantations.    Great  sim- 


2  1 6  Landscape  Gardening 

plicity  and  roundness  of  form  will  be  observed  in  the  beds, 
and  the  grass  openings  with  the  grass  verge  round  the  edge 
of  the  walk  are  varied  and  ample.  The  references  will  make 
the  details  quite  intelligible: — 


Beds  of  Province  Roses. 

,,      Hybrid  Perpetual  Roses. 
„      Damask  Roses. 
„      Moss  Roses. 
Bed   of   Noisette   Roses,    with 
Climbing  Rose,  trained  to 
a  pole,  in  the  center. 


6.  Beds  of  Hybrid  China  Roses. 

7.  ,,         Bourbon  Roses. 

8.  Climbing  Roses,  trained  to  poles 

eight  feet  high. 

9.  Standard  Roses. 


It  will  be  seen  that  each  important  tribe  is  brought  together 
in  beds  by  itself,  and  if  the  sorts  be  nicely  selected  and  mixed, 
such  an  arrangement  will  be  found  usually  more  productive 
of  harmony,  character,  and  tone  than  any  merely  promiscu- 
ous mixture  of  all  the  groups. 

7.  Special  Collections.  —  There  are  few  places  of  sufficient 
magnitude  to  admit  of  the  formation  of  what  has  been  termed 
an  arboretum,  or  complete  collection  of  trees  and  shrubs 
classified  according  to  their  natural  affinities.  And  where 
there  is  actually  room  for  it,  such  a  gathering,  according  to 
the  received  notion  of  it,  would  be  by  no  means  ornamental, 
while  it  would  necessarily  comprise  many  species  and  varieties 
that  are  quite  unworthy  of  cultivation.  In  spite  of  all  this 
there  is  the  greatest  propriety  in  selecting  the  most  distinct 
or  interesting  members  of  certain  tribes  and  allotting  a  sepa- 
rate space  to  them  within  the  general  compass  of  the  pleasure 
grounds.  And  one  of  the  most  pleasing  of  such  departments 
would  be  the  pinetum. 

By  the  term  pinetum,  however,  I  do  not  mean  a  spot  that 
necessarily  accommodates  all  the  known  or  hardy  species  and 
varieties  of  coniferous  plants;  much  less  do  I  seek  to  advo- 
cate the  common  method  of  dotting  these  about,  as  single 
specimens,  at  nearly  regular  intervals,  by  the  sides  of  a  walk 


special   Features  217 

made  on  purpose  to  exhibit  them;  I  merely  wish  to  recom- 
mend the  introduction,  where  practicable,  in  some  remoter 
and  wilder  part  of  the  pleasure  grounds  or  woods,  and  par- 
ticularly where  there  are  natural  sloping  banks  of  varied 
aspect  with  an  ordinarily  sandy  or  rocky  substratum,  of  a 
careful  selection  of  the  most  peculiar  or  most  ornamental 
kinds.  It  would  be  my  way  to  distribute  these  about  very 
irregularly,  in  broken  groups  or  as  single  specimens,  according 
to  the  conformation  of  the  ground,  the  character  or  value  of 
theplants,  and  their  fitness  for  entering  into  combination  with 
others  or  for  standing  alone.  In  short,  the  object  of  a  pine- 
tum  should  be  to  produce  a  new  and  unique  but  always  pic- 
turesque scene  or  succession  of  scenes  in  a  place,  with  the 
occasional  exhibition  of  a  very  perfect  specimen,  and  not,  as  is 
usually  the  case,  a  merely  monotonous  succession  of  specimens. 

A  remarkably  eligible  site  for  such  a  pinetum  would  be  a 
small  winding  valley  in  an  old  wood  towards,  the  outside  of 
a  pleasure  garden.  By  cutting  away  the  wood  in  the  bottom 
of  this  valley,  and  making  bold  indentations  into  it  along  the 
slopes  at  its  sides,  a  walk  might  be  conducted  through  the 
hollow,  and  the  banks  could  receive  the  choice  conifers,  while 
the  groups  of  these  latter  would  be  broken  here  and  there  by 
jutting  portions  of  the  wood,  and  the  whole  would  be  backed 
and  thrown  into  good  relief  by  the  deciduous  trees  composing 
the  main  mass. 

The  drawing,  fig.  59,  will  afford  some  slight  idea  of  the 
grouping  of  such  evergreen  trees  by  the  sides  of  such  a  walk 
as  I  have  mentioned,  the  wood  itself  being  nearly  altogether 
omitted  from  the  sketch.  The  lines  of  the  walk  are  proba- 
bly smoother  and  more  regular  than  they  would  be  likely  to 
be  in  such  a  situation.  But  they  might,  for  variety,  ascend 
the  banks  in  certain  parts,  and  would  thus  show  the  conifers 
more  advantageously.     The  scale  is  66  feet  to  an  inch. 


2l8 


Landscape  Gardening 


8.  The  Winter  Garden. —  By  no  means  widely  removed 
from  the  pinetum  in  character  and  purpose  would  be  the 
winter  garden.  In  reality,  as  conifers  are  almost  invariably 
evergreen  an  assemblage  of  them  such  as  I  have  just  described 
would  in  itself  compose  a  winter  garden  of  a  particular  kind. 
And  in  a  similar  situation  a  quantity  of  ornamental  shrubby 


# 


e 


# 


# 


# 


0 


#  « 


Fig.  SQ.     The  Arrangement  of  a  Collection. 

evergreens  might  be  gathered  together  so  as  to  constitute  a 
very  effective  specimen  of  the  irregular  winter  garden. 

But  the  more  usual  or  acknowledged  appHcation  of  the 
name  "winter  garden"  would  be  to  a  plot  that  is  arranged 
in  a  purely  regular  manner  with  the  beds  cut  into  quaint  or 
at  least  formal  figures,  and  the  shrubs  for  these  beds  selected 


Special  Features  219 

for  the  colors  of  their  foliage  and  placed  each  by  itself  in  a 
separate  bed.  With  a  due  regard,  in  the  choice  of  plants,  to 
diversities  of  height  and  habit,  to  the  periods  of  producing 
flowers  or  berries,  to  the  variegation  or  other  conspicuous 
peculiarity  of  the  leaves,  to  dwarf  edgings  of  another  kind  of 
plant,  and  to  all  similar  ornamental  details,  the  winter  garden 
may  be  made  very  attractive  both  winter  and  summer. 

It  is  possible  also  to  produce  highly  agreeable  winter  effects 
in  a  less  formal  manner.  Evergreens  and  shrubs  with  good 
winter  colors  may  be  arranged  in  perfectly  informal  borders 
or  masses,  just  as  other  materials  are  planted  for  the  ordinary, 
purely  naturalistic  landscape  effects.  In  such  groupings  there 
may  be  used  all  shrubs  with  bright  colored  twigs,  as  the  dog- 
woods (Cornus  stolonifera,  C.  siberica,  etc.),  the  yellow  willow 
(Salix  alba  vitellina),  Kerriajaponica,  etc.,  also  plants  having 
attractive  fruits  in  winter;  for  example,  the  common  bitter- 
sweet, many  roses,  viburnums,  etc.  All  the  best  nursery  cata- 
logues give  good  working  lists  of  plants  for  these  purposes. 

9.  Playgrounds.  —  In  the  present  artificial  state  of  soci- 
ety, with  e\^ery  species  of  business  conducted  in  an  anx- 
ious and  hurried  manner,  and  so  many  persons  devoting 
themselves  to  mental  or  sedentary  pursuits,  all  sorts  of 
out  door  exercise  and  amusement  become  additionally  need- 
ful and  salutary.  And  it  is  gratifying  to  find  that  there  is 
a  wise  tendency  towards  harmless  indulgence  of  the  kind. 
A  demand,  therefore,  more  frequently  arises  for  a  bowling 
green,  tennis  court,  croquet  ground,  or  other  play  spot,  as  an 
appendage  to  a  garden. 

I  believe  the  orthodox  form  of  a  bowling  green  is  a  square 
of  about  forty  yards  each  way,  and  that  the  best  players  pre- 
fer to  have  the  ground  very  slightly  raised  towards  the  center. 
An  oblong  and  narrower  plot,  however,  will  suffice  for  all 
ordinary  practice;  and  as  it  is  in  no  way  requisite  that  the 


2  20  Landscape  Gardening 

margins  should  be  straight  or  regular,  a  bowling  green  may 
often  be  concocted  out  of  the  principal  lawn,  where  the 
ground  is  flat  enough  for  the  purpose. 

Still,  if  there  be  sufficient  space  in  the  garden,  and  the 
natural  levels  of  the  land  admit  of  it,  a  bowling  green  may  be 
better  treated  as  a  separate  thing.  Fig.  60  represents  one 
that  I  designed  for  James  Ball,  Esq.,  of  Newton.  It  is  of  a 
circular  form,  the  ground  constituting  the  bowling  green 
being  sunk  two  feet,  and  there  being  a  terrace  bank  defining 
it  all  round.  The  circular  shape  was  adopted  as  being  more 
beautiful  than  a  square,  and  as  allowing,  between  the  green 
and  the  square  walk  around  it,  an  opportunity  of  planting 
the  margin  effectively.  The  main  object  of  sinking  the 
ground,  too,  was  one  of  convenience,  to  save  unnecessary 
earth- work;  but  it  also  contributes  to  the  effect,  and  enables 
those  walking  in  the  garden  and  keeping  on  the  paths  to 
see  the  players  better. 

The  top  of  the  engraving  is  the  north  side  on  which  the 
house  and  pleasure  grounds  are  placed.  A  small  supplemen- 
tary kitchen  garden  lies  on  the  east,  with  a  walk  into  it 
from  the  center  of  the  bowling  green  on  this  side.  The  plan- 
tation to  the  south  is  on  the  boundary  of  the  place  and  there 
is  an  open  field  to  the  west.  A  summer  house  (10)  appro- 
priately finishes  two  of  the  walks,  and  is  a  convenient  resting 
place  for  the  players.  The  figures  represent  the  following 
shrubs:  — 

1.  Irish  Yews. 

2.  Golden  Hollies. 

3.  Hybrid  Rhododendron. 

4.  Erica  midtijiora. 

5.  "      carnea. 
6'  Spircea  Lhtdleyana. 

Should  much  alteration  of  level  have  to  be  effected  in  mak- 
ing a  bowling  green,  the  parts  raised  must  be  well  trodden 


7.  Mass  of  Rhododendron  hirsuium. 

8.  "  "         fcrruginejnn. 

9.  Beds  chiefly  iilled  with  Rhodo- 

dendrons, with  Roses  on  the 
side  next  the  bowling  green. 


special   Features 


221 


Ks 


:^^1.^ 


s^ 


r-  -.^ 


Fig.  60.      Design  for  a  Bowling  Green. 

and  rammed  at  the  time  of  filling  them,  that  they  may  not 
settle  irregularly.  It  is  likewise  a  matter  of  importance  that 
the  ground  should  be  laid  with  good  old  sods,  in  order  that 


22  2  Landscape  Gardening 

the  turf  may  be  fine,  and  that  it  afterwards  may  be  easy  to 
take  it  up  and  re-lay  it  should  the  levels  from  any  cause  get 
disturbed.  For  these  reasons  it  is  injudicious  to  sow  it 
down  with  new  grass  seeds;  for  if  it  falls  into  holes  or  depres- 
sions, it  will  be  impossible  to  alter  these  under  four  or  five 
years,  unless  by  the  introduction  of  old  turf  in  such  parts. 

Croquet  grounds  are  commonly  laid  out  anywhere  on  an 
established  lawn  wherever  the  company  may  wish  to  play. 
Such  pastimes,  however,  are  of  sufficient  value  to  justify 
more  extension  and  thoughtful  preparation.  On  private 
grounds  of  any  importance  a  special  croquet  ground  may 
appropriately  be  constructed;  and  this  may  become,  not  only 
a  source  of  amusement  to  the  younger  members  of  the  family, 
but  in  the  hands  of  a  skillful  designer  it  may  prove  to  be  one 
of  the  most  ornamental  features  of  the  grounds.  Croquet 
grounds  may  be  kept  in  grass,  which  is  the  preferable  way 
considered  from  the  standpoint  of  ornament,  or  they  may 
be  cleared  and  paved  with  gravel,  brown  earth,  or  even  with 
cement.  Such  paving  of  course  makes  it  possible  to  develop 
a  higher  degree  of  skill  in  playing,  while  if  properly  managed 
such  a  croquet  court  may  still  combine  effectively  with  the 
general  design  of  the  garden. 

Tennis  courts  are  to  be  treated  in  substantially  the  same 
manner.  They  should  be  carefully  placed  with  reference  to 
the  other  parts  of  the  grounds  so  as  to  assist  instead  of  break- 
ing in  upon  the  garden  design.  Back  stops  may  be  clothed 
with  pretty  climbers,  or  may  be  backed  up  with  masses  of 
fine  shrubbery  or  evergreens.  In  some  cases  the  tennis  court 
may  be  laid  out  on  an  ordinary  level,  mowed  lawn;  but  as  a 
grass  court  has  little  value  for  playing  the  game  it  is  usually 
necessary  to  have  the  court  paved  with  cinders  or  burnt 
earth.  Cement  has  been  used  in  some  cases  but  it  is  not 
agreeable  to  the  players. 


special   Features  223 


10.  Water  in  summer  weather  is  always  grateful  by  impart- 
ing at  least  a  semblance  of  coolness  in  addition  to  all  those 
beautiful  and  varied  effects  which  the  influence  of  atmos- 
pheric phenomena  begets.  But  an  essential  condition  to  its 
enjoyment  is  that  it  should  be  pure  and  clear.  And  this  it 
can  never  be  unless  it  is  either  continually  changing  by  hav- 
ing an  uninterrupted  stream  of  fresh  water  flowing  through 
it,  or  by  being  fully  exposed  to  the  action  of  light  and  air. 
Ponds  that  are  encircled  by  trees  are  nearly  always  foul. 
Having  a  clay  bottom  and  slopes,  however,  will  contribute 
greatly  towards  keeping  the  water  pure.  Aquatic  plants 
are  also  of  much  use,  when  not  too  abundant,  in  preserving 
stagnant  water  from  putridity. 

In  whatever  way  pieces  of  water  may  be  introduced  into  a 
small  place,  simple  forms  appear  by  far  the  most  congenial. 
Basins,  either  with  or  without  fountains  attached,  and  having 
a  stone  rim,  will  be  in  the  best  taste  for  formal  gardens  and 
can  be  either  circular,  octagonal,  or  of  any  other  regular 
shape.  Roundish  or  somewhat  oblong  pools  or  ponds  will  be 
another  suitable  class  of  figures  for  a  small  piece  of  water 
where  more  agreement  with  nature  is  sought.  But  if  still 
greater  freedom  be  desired  and  space  be  not  so  much  an 
object,  the  shape  may  be  more  varied  and  irregular. 

The  principal  advantage  of  a  varied  outline  for  water  is 
that  it  will  not  be  all  seen  at  the  same  time  and  that  by  a 
tasteful  treatment  of  its  terminations  considerable  indefinite- 
ness  may  be  obtained  in  it.  It  is  most  essential,  however, 
that  numerous  and  unnecessary  curves  and  bays  which 
would  destroy  all  appearance  of  breadth  should  be  omitted. 
Islands,  too,  though  they  increase  the  variety  and  beauty  of 
an  extensive  sheet  of  water  rather  fritter  away  and  impover- 
ish smaller  lakes  unless  they  are  adapted  nicely  to  the 
dimensions  of  the  whole. 


2  24  Landscape  Gardening 

No  irregular  piece  of  water  can  be  made  at  all  tasteful  or 
pleasing  unless  the  margins  of  it  are  appropriately"  planted. 
As  with  a  curved  walk  on  a  flat  surface,  unfurnished  with 
planting,  the  curves  in  a  lake  would  seem  needless  and  im- 
proper. It  is  therefore  requisite  to  plant  or  throw  up  a 
bank  on  all  the  promontories  round  the  margin,  diversifying 
the  shape  and  extent  of  the  planting  according  to  the  amount 
of  curve  that  has  to  be  hidden.  And  as  bare  mounds  would 
rarely  look  sufficient  in  such  a  position,  or  effect  all  that  was 
required  of  them  unless  they  were  disproportionately  high, 
it  will  be  better  to  make  them  only  low,  and  plant  dwarf 
bushes  upon  them.  Larger  trees  overhanging  and  dipping 
their  branches  into  the  water  at  other  points  will  be  highly 
effective,  and  the  weeping  kinds  of  tree  are  especially  suitable 
for  such  purposes.  Alders,  weeping  willows,  weeping  birch, 
the  deciduous  cypress,  the  liquidambar,  and  the  tamarisk 
will  be  excellent  plants  for  the  margins  of  water  in  particular 
parts.  For  small  islands,  the  common  dogwood  planted 
quite  alone,  and  covering  the  entire  island,  will  be  very 
beautiful. 

That  a  piece  of  water  may  not  be  too  much  enshrouded  by 
trees,  which  I  have  already  said  would  tend  to  make  it 
impure,  to  destroy  its  clearness,  and  to  deprive  it  of  the 
sparkle,  glitter,  and  capacity  for  reflecting  objects,  which 
constitute  some  of  its  chief  attractions,  a  large  portion  of  its 
margin,  especially  round  the  bays  and  recesses,  should  be 
left  unplanted.  All  plantings,  whether  of  masses  or  speci- 
mens, can  be  arranged  mainly  with  reference  to  their  actual 
effect  when  viewed  from  a  variety  of  points,  but  not  without 
regard  to  their  appearance  when  mirrored  in  the  water  or 
to  the  shadows  which  they  will  throw  upon  it  at  certain  times 
of  the  day.  And  in  this  view  of  the  case,  not  merely  elegant 
forms  should  be  chosen,  but  masses  of  flowering  shrubs  which 


Special   Features  225 

will  produce  broad  effects  in  the  way  of  color  should  like- 
wise be  employed.  Such  would  be  the  rhododendrons,  aza- 
leas, hardy  roses,  laburnums,  Hlacs,  etc.,  and,  if  within  the 
pleasure  grounds,  hydrangeas,  dahlias,  or  even  patches  of 
showy  geraniums  might  be  added. 

Smoothness  and  softness  in  the  finish  of  the  banks  around 
water  should  be  a  leading  feature,  and  the  grass  should  slope 
down  more  or  less  gently  to  the  very  edge  of  the  water  so 
that  there  be  no  hard  line  of  earth  between  them.  Even 
where  the  plantations  come  down  to  the  brink  of  the  water 
there  can  still  be  a  strip  of  turf  below  them,  that  the  water 
may  not  wash  against  bare  earth  anywhere. 

In  more  secluded  parts,  water  can  be  treated  rather  less 
artificially,  and  have  its  banks  formed  of  partially  broken 
ground,  with  rougher  grass  and  masses  of  jutting  rock  or  old 
roots  on  some  of  the  more  conspicuous  points.  This  will 
heighten  the  variety  and  beauty  of  the  reflections  in  it.  But 
it  requires  consummate  taste  and  art  to  effect  anything  of 
the  sort.  Gardeners  in  general  have  no  notion  whate^'er  of 
dealing  with  ground  otherwise  than  in  the  commonplace 
manner. 

Aquatic  plants  may  be  grown  in  any  piece  of  water,  but 
they  will  be  less  appropriate  the  more  artificial  the  water  is 
made,  and  will  adapt  themselves  better  to  rougher  and  more 
rustic  accompaniments.  If  kept  near  the  edge  and  placed 
almost  wholly  opposite  the  more  prominent  points  of  land, 
they  will  be  nearly  tantamount  to  specimen  trees  or  shrubs 
planted  in  the  front  of  swells  in  lawn  plantations,  and  may 
be  equally  good. 

Stagnant  water  being  very  apt  to  become  corrupt  and  to 
evaporate  largely  in  summer,  some  expedient  should  always 
be  contrived  for  retaining  water  in  lakes  and  maintaining  a 
tolerably  fresh  supply.     Thorough  puddling  for  the  bottom 


2  26  Landscape  Gardening 

and  sides  will  be  a  good  safeguard  against  loss  though  it  will 
not  be  needed  where  the  subsoil  is  naturally  a  stiff  clay. 
And  as  few  places  would  yield  any  other  resource,  it  will  be 
well  to  keep  the  water  in  the  lowest  part  of  the  land  (as  it 
should  be  in  point  of  taste  also)  and  drain  the  whole  of  the 
ground,  excepting  the  kitchen  garden,  into  it.  A  mod- 
erate supply,  in  all  but  the  very  driest  weather,  will  thus  be 
provided. 

Where  anything  in  the  way  of  a  small  stream  passes 
through  a  place,  and  is  not  at  all  sluggish  in  its  course,  it 
may  be  rendered  additionally  interesting  by  having  its  fall 
broken  here  and  there  with  masses  of  rock  and,  where  such  a 
plan  would  not  interfere  with  the  general  landscape,  it  can 
be  covered  in  and  darkened  by  plantations  at  various  points, 
so  as  to  allow  small  shady  walks,  banks  of  ferns,  etc.,  by  its 
side.  When  it  takes  a  tortuous  direction,  walks  of  this 
description  may  cross  it,  by  means  of  a  few  stones  or  a  rough 
little  arch,  in  different  parts,  and  pass  away  from  it  for  a 
few  yards,  to  return  again  to  its  side  in  the  next  bend  of 
its  course. 

If  the  position  for  a  sheet  of  water  be  skillfully  chosen, 
advantage  will  be  taken  of  any  natural  stream  that  flows 
through  the  property,  and  by  throwing  a  dam  across  the 
hollow  along  which  it  winds,  a  lake  may  be  formed  in  a  very 
inartificial  manner  and  at  a  light  expense.  This  is  precisely 
the  case  with  regard  to  the  piece  of  water  depicted  in  fig.  6i, 
which  has  been  designed  for  the  park  of  Sir  Robert  Gerard, 
Bart.,  at  Garswood,  Lancashire.  There  is  a  natural  con- 
cavity in  the  ground  within  view  of  the  mansion  and  adjoin- 
ing a  small  rivulet  which  flows  from  a  northwesterly  in  a 
southeasterly  direction,  and  by  damming  up  this  stream  at 
the  southern  end  a  very  little  excavation  would  produce  a 
sheet  of  water  of  the  outline  shown  in  the  engraving  and 


special   Features 


227 


leave  a  bank  in  the  center  for  an  island.    The  road  shown  in 
the  sketch,  along  the  eastern  side,  is  intended  for  a  private 


Fig.  61.      Plan  of  an  Artificial  Pond. 

ride  or  drive,  and  winds  from  one  of  the  main  drives  up  the 
side  of  a  picturesque  hollow  and  through  some  woods  to 
another  part  of  the  park.  The  short  branch  walk  from  it 
leads  to  a  boathouse.    And  there  is  a  separate  walk  from 


228  Landscape  Gardening 

the  house  which  would  pass  all  round  the  lake,  being  kept 
chiefly  in  the  open  park  but  also  running  through  two 
enclosures.  The  dotted  lines  represent  the  fences  to  all  the 
plantations  or  enclosures  and  the  mode  of  planting  will  be 
fully  apparent  from  the  sketch.  The  area  of  the  lake  would 
be  a  little  less  than  three  acres. 

As  will  be  perceived  by  the  plan,  the  part  about  the  dam  is 
enclosed  from  the  park,  and  this  gives  the  opportunity  of 
shaping  the  ground  nicely  there  and  of  planting  it  densely. 
Too  frequently,  in  such  cases,  the  treatment  of  an  embank- 
ment of  this  sort  presents  a  singular  example  of  poverty  and 
feebleness  of  invention.  It  is  commonly  made  too  narrow, 
too  abrupt,  or  is  planted  chiefly  with  forest  trees,  which, 
when  they  grow  up,  appear  thin  and  meager  and  sometimes 
shut  out  a  most  charming  view  over  the  valley  below. 

The  first  requisite  in  making  a  dam  is  to  place  it  at  a  point 
where  the  valley  narrows  and  the  adjoining  banks  are  toler- 
ably steep  and  high.  A  trench  of  at  least  four  or  five  feet 
wide  should  then  be  taken  out  across  the  hollow  and  be  cut 
down  till  solid  ground  is  reached.  If  this  be  clay,  it  will  be 
so  much  the  more  satisfactory.  The  trench  should  then  be 
filled  up  with  puddled  clay  and  this  latter  be  added  as  much 
as  possible  in  a  sloping  bank  on  the  side  towards  the  intended 
lake,  a  good  broad  embankment  being  carried  up  simul- 
taneously on  the  outside  as  the  work  proceeds,  taking  care 
also  to  build  up  a  chamber  and  drain  in  cement  for  an  over- 
flow at  the  same  time  with  a  strong  sluice  if  it  is  wished  to 
have  the  power  of  drying  the  lake. 

In  planting  an  embankment,  the  predominant  kinds  used 
should  certainly  be  bushes  with  only  a  tree  or  two  here  and 
there  or  a  group  of  them  to  assist  the  outline.  Dogwoods 
and  willows  are  especially  to, be  recommended.  Any  walk 
that  crosses  the  dam  of  a  lake,  unless  it  be  a  branch  stretching 


special   Features 


229 


down  the  bank  for  the  sake  of  exhibiting  a  waterfall  that 
may  be  constructed  from  the  overflow,  must  be  carefully  kept 
on  ground  above  the  level  of  the  water  that  it  may  not  even 
appear  dangerous.  It  may  indeed  be  held  as  an  established 
rule  that  water  should  not  be  allowed  to  be  seen  from  a  point 
where  it  seems  to  be  higher  than  the  ground  on  which  the 
observer  stands. 

In   making  purely  artificial  pieces  of  water,   the  depth 
should  not  be  allowed  to  exceed  from  four  to  five  feet  and 


Fig.  62.    Forming  the  Bank  of  a  Lake. 


the  slope  of  their  banks  must  not  be  too  steep  while  it  should 
blend  nicely  with  the  ground  around.  Fig.  62  will  exem- 
pUfy,  in  section,  a  good  form  for  such  banks.  And  it  will 
also  show  from  b  upwards  how  the  banks  can  be  pitched 
with  stone  so  as  to  preserve  them  from  being  washed  away 
by  the  action  of  winds  on  the  water.  The  stones  can  either 
be  rough  boulders,  more  irregular  small  blocks  set  on  edge, 
or  in  large  flatfish  masses.  They  should  be  well  bedded 
into  the  bank,  extend  two  feet  (in  vertical  depth)  below  the 
surface  of  the  water,  and  present  a  somewhat  rugged  face. 


230  Landscape  Gardening 

In  turfing  the  banks  above,  the  sod  (indicated  by  thin 
double  Hnes  in  the  section)  should  stretch  down  into  the 
water  as  at  a,  at  least  nine  inches  below  the  water  level,  for 
there  is  a  manifest  beauty  in  the  perfect  union  of  the  grass 
and  the  water  where  the  latter  comes  within  the  range  of 
the  pleasure  garden.  Fig.  63  may  possibly  suggest  a  hint 
or  two  in  regard  to  the  profile  of  groups  of  planting  by  the 
sides  of  such  pieces  of  water. 

Water  birds  on  lakes  of  any  magnitude  in  parks  or  on 
ponds  in  woods  beyond  the  limits  of  the  pleasure  ground 


Fig.  6t,.      Lake  Shore  Planting. 

are  generally  pretty  and  vivacious,  and  give  life  and  motion 
to  any  scene.  Islands  covered  with  dense  masses  of  shrubs 
are  particularly  useful  as  breeding  places  for  water  birds, 
as  they  protect  them  at  night  from  foxes  and  other  animals 
of  prey.  Small,  rude  shelter  houses  for  aquatic  birds  may 
likewise  become  characteristic  ornaments  to  the  margins  of 
such  islands.  But  water  birds  should  on  no  account  be 
admitted  upon  ornamental  water  in  pleasure  grounds  as  they 
destroy  the  beauty  of  the  banks,  foul  the  water,  and  are 
otherwise  a  nuisance.  A  pair  of  swans  might  possibly  form 
an  exception. 


special  Features  231 

II.  Bridges,  if  at  all  wanted,  ought  to  be  of  an  exceedingly 
quiet  and  simple  character  in  a  small  place.  They  should 
certainly  never  be  of  dressed  wood  or  stone  unless  they  have 
to  carry  the  approach  to  the  house  over  a  moat,  river,  or 
similar  piece  of  water.  For  merely  crossing  the  arm  of  a 
small  lake  or  giving  access  to  an  island,  a  simple  rough  plank, 
sufficiently  broad  and  stout,  with  the  bark  left  on  at  the 
edges,  and  a  handrail  made  of  undressed  fir  or  larch  wood 
with  the  bark  on,  will  sometimes  be  suitable.     Or  a  rather 


Fig.  64.      Rustic  Bridge  on  Simple  Lines. 

more  perfect  and  ornamental  rustic  bridge,  that  is  altogether 
wanting  in  pretension  and  does  not  stand  so  high  as  to 
become  very  conspicuous,  may  be  chosen  in  other  places. 
Lightness  and  yet  safety,  rusticity  and  the  absence  of  any- 
thing marked  or  staring,  will  be  the  leading  characteristics 
demanded. 

One  of  the  most  obvious  forms  for  such  a  bridge  is  exhibited 
in  fig.  64,  where  two  strong  larch  poles  are  thrown  across  a 
piece  of  water,  and  a  path  of  cross  pieces  formed  upon  these, 
with  a  simple  handrail,  and  light  upright  and  diagonal  bars 
of  the  same  material  on  either  side.     This  bridge  is  very  low. 


232  Landscape  Gardening 


and  would  not  admit  a  boat  beneath  it,  being  designed  for  a 
stream  about  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  wide.  But  it  might  easily 
be  made  higher  if  necessary  by  obtaining,  either  naturally 
or  artificially,  additional  elevation  in  the  side  banks. 

Wherever  bridges  are  used,  and  whatever  may  be  their 
material  or  character,  they  should  never  appear  to  spring 
out  of  the  bare  ground  or  be  left  without  proper  support 
and  furniture  in  the  way  of  trees  and  shrubs.  And  the  same 
observation  will  be  applicable  to  viaducts.  This  provision, 
moreover,  is  not  merely  necessary  as  a  matter  of  safety,  for 
no  extension  of  handrails  or  parapet  walls  would  accomplish 
the  same  end.  It  is  demanded  artistically  to  relieve  and 
soften  the  rigidity  of  line  and  to  associate  the  object  better 
with  the  natural  accompaniments  beyond.  And  where  em- 
bankments have  to  be  made  at  the  ends  of  bridges  to  carry 
a  walk  or  road  easily  over  them,  the  addition  of  masses  of 
shrubs  to  mask  those  embankments  is  all  the  more  urgently 
required.  The  idea  thus  sought  to  be  conveyed  will  be  fur- 
ther illustrated  by  reference  to  the  last  three  engra\dngs. 

12.  Boathouses.  —  Boats  are  seldom  desirable  on  a  small 
piece  of  water,  as  they  occupy  it  too  much,  seem  out  of  pro- 
portion, and  reduce  its  apparent  limits.  When  the  water 
assumes  the  dimensions  of  a  lake,  however,  and  there  are 
islands  upon  it,  boats  become  indispensable,  and  to  preserve 
them  some  kind  of  boathouse  will  have  to  be  supplied.  In 
the  grounds  or  park  attached  to  a  Grecian  mansion,  a  boat- 
house  in  the  shape  of  a  classic  temple  may  be  appropriate. 
Ordinarily  some  very  rustic  kind  of  structure  will  be  decid- 
edly better. 

A  boathouse  may  take  the  form  of  a  miniature  Swiss  cot- 
tage, and  have  a  reading  or  shelter  room  over  the  part  in 
which  the  boats  are  kept,  with  a  good  balcony  towards  the 
water  to  afford  facilities  for  fishing.     It  may  thus  combine 


special  Features  233 

three  objects.  Or  it  may,  if  suited  to  the  style  of  the  house, 
have  a  small  open  Italian  pavilion  over  the  boat  department. 
Or  in  more  picturesque  scenes  it  may  be  made  in  the  very 
rudest  form  of  a  low  hut  and  simply  be  thatched  with  reeds, 
heather,  or  straw.  In  each  of  these  cases  however  it  should 
have  a  very  bold,  flattish,  and  broadly  projecting  roof. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Various  Accessories 

Besides  the  matters  already  discussed  there  are  various 
other  accessories  sometimes  convenient  or  even  necessary  in 
the  development  of  the  home  grounds.  It  is  hardly  ever  the 
case  that  all  of  these  will  be  required  on  any  one  property, 
unless  indeed  it  be  a  private  park  on  a  very  large  scale,  yet 
on  the  whole  they  are  often  needed,  and  some  directions  for 
their  right  development  may  reasonably  be  expected  in  these 
pages.  Some  of  these  undertakings  involve  questions  of 
architecture,  some  questions  of  engineering,  and  others  bring 
up  other  technical  points.  It  is  to  be  expected  that  the 
householder,  looking  after  the  improvement  of  his  own  prop- 
erty, will  consult  the  proper  experts  in  all  these  questions. 
At  the  same  time  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  all  these 
matters  have  also  their  bearing  on  the  beauty  of  the  premises 
as  a  whole,  and  so  come  under  the  special  view  of  the  land- 
scape gardener. 

I.  Arbors,  summer  houses,  and  covered  seats  of  all  kinds 
may  be  very  convenient  and  productive  of  much  comfort  in 
a  garden  if  a  few  plain  rules  be  observed  in  their  construc- 
tion. They  should  be  decidedly  dry,  and  therefore  must 
never  be  placed  in  a  low  or  damp  situation  or  be  too  much 
shaded  or  have  the  floor  on  a  level  with  the  ground.  A 
raised  floor  will  in  fact  be  indispensable,  and  it  will  be 
drier  and  warmer  if  boarded  or  if  open  wooden  stands  for 
the  feet  to  rest  upon  be  fixed  all  round  it  along  the  fronts  of 
the  seats. 

234 


Various  Accessories  235 

Summer  houses  should  never  be  made  of  materials  that 
will  harbor  dust,  dirt,  or  insects.  Moss  or  heather  linings 
will  never  be  quite  clean,  and  all  sorts  of  insects  will  be 
encouraged  to  lodge  in  them.  Rough  cushioned  seats  and 
backs  of  green  baize  in  arbors  that  are  open  to  the  weather 
will  be  alike  bad  in  the  same  way.  And  wood  with  the 
rough  bark  on  is  only  a  trifle  better.  The  best  lining  for 
them  is  small  hazel  or  oak  boughs  about  an  inch  in  diameter, 
unstripped  of  their  bark  which  will  be  quite  smooth,  and 
sawn  to  various  lengths,  so  as  to  be  fixed  up  to  some  fancy 
figures  of  no  very  elaborate  pattern.  This  will  be  clean, 
dry,  and  ill  adapted  for  the  encouragement  of  insects,  also 
very  durable,  which  none  of  the  other  things  named  are  at 
all  likely  to  be. 

In  point  of  taste  summer  houses  should  be  concealed  from 
the  windows  of  a  dwelling  or  correspond  with  it  in  style.  A 
rustic  arbor  will  not,  however,  be  an  unfit  accompaniment 
to  a  building  in  the  Swiss  character  or  even  to  some  kinds  of 
Gothic  if  its  details  be  accommodated  thereto.  But  it  would 
be  entirely  inharmonious  with  a  building  in  the  Grecian  or 
Italian  manner  which  demands  more  artistic  and  classical 
attendants.  Everything  rustic  should,  if  employed  at  all, 
be  planted  out  from  the  view  of  such  houses.  And  perhaps 
the  fittest  form  in  general  for  a  garden  decoration  of  this  sort 
will  be  some  truly  rustic  object,  made  of  rough  wood,  un- 
barked,  thatched  with  reeds  or  heather,  and  partly  covered 
with  climbers,  but  partly  supported  by  trees  and  shrubs,  out 
of  the  front  of  which  it  should  appear  to  spring.  In  other 
cases  summer  houses  of  purely  classical  design  may  be  used 
with  the  very  best  effect  on  ground  developed  in  a  formal 
manner  and  in  accompaniment  with  a  house  of  Italian  style. 

Fig.  65  represents  the  elevation  and  ground  plan  of  a  rus- 
tic summer  house  which  I  erected  for  David  Bromilow,  Esq., 


236 


Landscape   Gardening 


and  is  made  simply  of  unbarked  larch  and  thatched  with 
heather,  the  interior  seat  and  lower  part  being  lined  with 
dressed  and  stained  deal.  It  is  placed  on  a  mound  in  the 
pleasure  grounds. 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  the  present  style  for  arbors  in 


Fig.  65.    Design  of  a  Summer  House. 


America  has  taken  a  somewhat  radical  turn.  Whereas  fifty 
years  ago  rustic  arbors  were  recommended  by  all  landscape 
gardeners  and  built  on  almost  every  ground,  they  are  now 
very  rarely  seen.     Grounds  designed  in  a  formal  style  nearly 


Various  Accessories  237 

always  have  pergolas,  which  in  a  great  measure  serve  the 
same  purpose  under  another  name;  but  grounds  designed  in 
the  natural  style  nowadays  commonly  have  nothing  of  the 
sort.  The  only  substitute  is  the  porch  or  wide  house  veranda, 
where  the  family  and  friends  may  sit  out  of  doors  to  read, 
sew,  gossip  or,  at  times,  to  enjoy  a  social  luncheon.  As  out- 
door life  is  to  be  encouraged  in  every  way,  and  as  the  use  of  a 
garden  or  private  park  is  equally  to  be  recommended,  the 
introduction  of  attractive  summer  houses  or  arbors  really 
ought  to  come  back  into  vogue. 

2.  Statuary,  vases,  and  similar  architectural  ornaments, 
are  the  fitting  associates  of  Grecian  and  Italian  houses,  and 
are  decidedly  less  suitable  in  relation  to  every  other  style. 
Not  that  such  things  as  low  terrace  walls  with  or  without 
tracery,  pillars  for  sundials,  ornamented  with  the  details  of 
pointed  architecture,  and  even  vases  or  urns  of  a  particular 
form  and  with  proper  decorations,  will  be  faulty  in  connection 
with  Gothic  buildings,  and  formal  gardens  of  the  same  char- 
acter. Only,  the  varieties  of  the  Grecian  style,  with  their 
architectural  arrangement  of  walks,  beds,  etc.,  would  appear 
to  correspond  most  with  and  demand  such  ornaments  as 
vases,  tazzas,  urns,  pillars,  sculptured  figures,  basins  of  water, 
with  fountains,  and  the  like  things,  to  carry  out  and  finish 
their  expression  and  design. 

It  may  be  worthy  of  consideration  in  adapting  statuary 
or  sculptured  figures  to  the  purposes  of  garden  ornament 
whether  there  is  not  an  unmeaning  anachronism  in  our  per- 
severing adherence  to  the  old  classical  subjects  and  nude 
representations,  and  how  far  it  may  not  be  desirable  to  break 
from  such  trammels  and  present  rural  objects,  local  pecu- 
liarities of  costume,  or  some  artistic  embodiment  of  such 
ideas  as  the  country  and  a  garden  suggest.  For,  apart  from 
the  mere  beauty  of  form,  it  surely  cannot  be  fitting  that  the 


238  Landscape   Gardening 

subjects  proper  to  a  sculpture  gallery  should  be  transferred 
at  pleasure  to  the  region  of  the  garden  as  though  the  latter 
could  claim  no  style  of  embellishment  peculiar  to  itself. 

Besides  the  choice  of  subject  however  the  style  of  treat- 
ment in  garden  sculpture  requires  revision.  Excessive 
smoothness,  such  as  will  be  found  in  naked  figures,  is  a  great 
charm  in  works  that  are  to  be  examined  closely  and  in  the 
house.  But  out  of  doors  the  greater  ruggedness  of  drapery 
and  the  introduction  of  rougher,  bolder,  and  more  prominent 
parts,  such  as  will  yield  shadows  and  impart  picturesqueness, 
will  be  more  satisfying  to  the  eye,  and  more  in  harmony  with 
natural  objects. 

Figures  that  are  composed  of  plaster  and  colored  nearly 
white  have  a  very  paltry  look  in  a  garden,  especially  if  they 
are  so  small  as  almost  to  degenerate  into  images.  Plaster 
vases,  however,  or  rather  such  as  are  comppsed  of  what  is 
termed  artificial  stone  or  terra  cotta,  will,  if  properly  col- 
ored and  sanded,  scarcely  be  known  from  stone  at  a  little 
distance. 

All  sculptured  ornaments  that  are  employed  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Grecian  buildings  should  be  classical  in  their 
design,  and  of  whatever  material  be  well  executed.  Any 
inferior  thing  in  either  of  these  respects  had  better  never 
be  introduced.  Comparatively  few  manufacturers  seem  to 
hit  upon  pure  and  simple  forms  for  vases,  though  there  is 
happily  a  better  taste  beginning  to  prevail  in  regard  to  all 
such  subjects. 

Some  latitude  of  choice  is  allowable  with  respect  to  the 
positions  of  any  architectural  figures  in  a  garden.  They 
ought  not,  however,  to  be  placed  out  on  the  middle  of  a  lawn, 
except  in  very  rare  instances  (such  as  sundials  occasionally), 
nor  can  they  usually  be  allowed  to  stand  on  bare  earth  or  in 
the  midst  of  a  bed  of  flowers  or  shrubs.     The  fittest  spot  for 


Various  Accessories  239 

them  seems  to  be  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  buildings,  on  or 
near  low  terrace  walls,  at  the  ends  of  walks,  on  gravel,  at  the 
corners  of  a  square  or  oblong  plot  that  is  surrounded  by  walks, 
in  the  center  of  a  circular  plot,  or  in  the  middle  of  two  walks 
where  they  cross  each  other. 

3.  A  greenhouse  or  conservatory  is  a  luxury  which  few 
who  can  afford  it  and  are  fond  of  plants  will  be  disposed  to 
forego.  When  attached  to  the  dwelling  house,  which  is  at 
once  a  convenience  and  a  disadvantage,  it  is  too  often  erected 
as  an  afterthought  and  thus  appears  as  a  patch  to  the  building 
or  is  merely  tacked  on  to  it  by  the  architect  as  a  part  of  the 
first  design  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of  making  it  enter 
into  the  composition  of  a  structure.  The  difference  between 
a  greenhouse  and  a  conservatory  is  that  the  former  is  for  the 
entire  cultivation  of  plants,  and  the  latter  only  for  their  dis- 
play when  in  a  flowering  or  otherwise  interesting  state.  The 
mere  fact  of  being  attached  to  the  house  does  not  of  itself 
form  a  distinction,  unless  the  bulk  of  the  objects  in  it  are 
planted  out  in  beds  or  borders,  when  it  becomes  a  conserva- 
tory, however  small  may  be  its  dimensions  or  however  it 
may  be  otherwise  employed. 

If  united  to  the  house  it  should  be  made  a  decidedly  archi- 
tectural object  and  not  look  like  a  superfluous  appendage  of  a 
different  character.  Light  iron  conservatories  with  curvi- 
linear roofs  can  seldom,  if  ever,  be  properly  blended  with  the 
rest  of  the  building.  Sufficient  lightness  and  elegance  may 
always  be  readily  attained  without  such  incongruity.  The 
front  of  a  conservatory  in  the  position  under  notice  should 
generally  be  as  high  as  the  ceiling  of  the  ground  floor  of  a 
house,  and  its  cornice  range  with  the  string  course  of  the 
building,  if  there  be  any.  The  roof  may  be  kept  as  low  as  pos- 
sible, so  as  to  be  very  little  seen.  All  heavy  pillars,  mullions, 
etc.,  must  be  expressly  avoided,  for  one  of  the  most  vital  fea- 


240  Landscape  Gardening 

tures  will  be  the  free  admission  of  light,  if  plants  are  to  be 
grown  in  the  house.  But  if  intended  only  for  flowering 
plants,  light  is  not  so  much  an  object.  Liberal  provision 
should  also  be  made  for  ventilation  at  the  sides  and  in  the 
roof  and  a  proper  command  of  heat  will  be  absolutely  requi- 
site.    The  best  aspect  would  be  southeast  or  southwest. 

Although  having  a  conservatory  thus  within,  as  it  were, 
the  walls  of  a  dwelling  makes  it  delightfully  accessible  at  all 
seasons  and  gives  a  pleasant  object  through  one  of  the  draw- 
ing-room or  library  windows  when  it  is  thus  entered,  yet  the 
only  kind  of  structure  that  can  consistently  be  built  in  such 
a  situation  will  not  be  fit  for  growing  plants  in;  and  unless 
an  additional  plant  house  be  possessed  or  an  adequate  num- 
ber of  pits  and  frames  to  maintain  a  perpetual  supply  of 
blooming  plants,  a  house  of  a  different  character  in  another 
position  will  be  highly  desirable. 

A  conservatory  that  communicates  directly  with  one  of 
the  chief  entertaining  rooms  is  sometimes  found  objection- 
able on  account  of  admitting  dampness,  an  earthy  smell, 
or  the  odors  from  fumigation  by  tobacco.  It  is  therefore 
generally  better  to  connect  them  by  a  glass  corridor  or 
interpose  a  small  ante-room,  museum,  or  sculptor-room 
between  them  and  the  drawing-room,  or  remove  them  still 
further  from  the  house  and  approach  them  by  a  covered  wg.y. 
It  is  no  doubt  very  agreeable,  where  there  is  a  suite  of  rooms 
terminating  in  a  conservatory,  to  be  able  to  open  them  to 
the  latter  at  night,  for  the  purposes  of  an  entertainment. 
But  it  must  be  remembered  where  gas  is  used  that  this  is 
highly  injurious  to  plants,  and  often  causes  them  to  throw 
ofT  all  their  flower  buds. 

When  a  corridor  separates  the  conservatory  from  the  house 
it  affords  an  opportunity  for  making  a  difference  of  level 
between  the  two  points.     And  a  conservatory  that  is  two  or 


Various  Accessories  241 

three  feet  below  the  floor  line  of  the  house  will  have  its 
flowers  much  more  favorably  displayed  from  the  window 
or  glass  door  that  may  lie  in  that  direction. 

No  conservatory  should  ever  be  put  on  the  entrance  front 
of  the  house.  It  is  an  inversion  of  all  rule,  which  presents 
the  best  feature  of  the  garden  first  and  destroys  all  privacy. 
Where  a  house  is  very  near  a  public  road,  however,  and  there 
is  not  room  for  a  carriage  drive  within  the  gates,  or  it  is 
desired  to  have  the  bulk  of  the  place  seen  only  from  the  prin- 
cipal windows  of  the  house,  a  glazed  corridor  of  sufiicient 
breadth  to  receive  plants  on  both  sides  of  the  passage  will 
form  a  charming  entrance  porch,  flowers  in  a  vestibule  or 
lobby  always  appearing  to  give  a  visitor  a  smiling  and  cordial 
greeting. 

Sculpture  of  a  high  order  in  marble,  or  marble  vases,  urns, 
tazzas,  etc.,  can  be  most  fittingly  accommodated  in  architec- 
tural conservatories,  whether  on  pedestals  or  in  niches  and 
recesses.  Nothing  throws  out  and  relieves  marble  statuary 
so  well  as  dark-foliaged  plants. 

Color,  too,  may  be  sometimes  employed  in  picking  out 
the  moldings  of  the  rafters,  but  it  should  not  be  too  glaring. 
It  is  altogether  a  mistake  to  ignore  entirely  the  use  of  color 
for  conservatories  and  to  adhere  to  the  cold  and  monotonous 
white  which  is  most  frequently  selected.  A  warm  stone- 
color,  with  the  mere  sashbars  painted  white  —  or  if  the 
framework  be  of  wood,  stained  deal  or  oak  graining  —  will 
be  greatly  superior  to  white,  and  stages  (of  wood)  should 
invariably  be  painted  green. 

Detached  greenhouses  for  the  growing  of  plants  should  be 
provided  whenever  practicable.  Their  design  and  erection 
should  nearly  always  be  left  to  some  concern  which  make  that 
work  their  business,  though  the  location  and  external  design 
should  always  have  the  approval  of  the  landscape  gardener. 


242  Landscape   Gardening 

4.  The  Kitchen  Garden. — It  has  before  been  intimated 
in  passing  that  a  kitchen  garden  should  be  placed  in  the  rear 
of  the  house  and  be  as  near  as  possible  to  both  it  and  the 
stables,  communicating  with  each  pretty  easily  and  directly 
and  without  the  necessity  of  going  through  the  pleasure 
grounds.  The  reason  of  these  things  is  plain  and  simple. 
As  a  kitchen  is  itself  generally  kept  at  the  back  of  the  house 
and  a  kitchen  garden  has  to  be  in  communication  with 
it,  the  two  should  be  in  close  proximity.  The  manure, 
from  the  stables,  having  to  be  used  in  the  kitchen  garden, 
ought  to  be  capable  of  being  readily  applied,  and  hence  the 
desirableness  of  connecting  the  two  parts  as  nearly  as  can 
be  done. 

A  kitchen  garden,  being  intended  for  convenience  and  use, 
should  be  of  some  regular  figure  and  have  the  walks,  beds, 
and  borders,  as  much  as  practicable,  in  straight  lines  and  at 
right  angles  with  each  other.  Any  different  arrangement 
would  waste  the  ground  and  render  it  less  easily  worked. 

Where  practicable  and  when  the  space  is  pretty  ample,  a 
kitchen  garden  will  be  warmer  if  entirely  walled  in,  and  the 
walls  will  supply  the  means  of  growing  a  number  of  the  better 
sorts  of  fruit  trees,  a  fashion  which  is  now  coming  into  use 
again  in  America  after  many  years  of  neglect.  The  wall  on 
the  side  nearest  the  north  should  be  at  least  twelve  or  four- 
teen feet  high  and  like  all  the  rest  should  have  a  coping  to  pro- 
ject two  or  three  inches.  There  may  also  be  a  good  planta- 
tion of  trees  behind  this  wall,  if  convenient,  or  at  no  great 
distance  from  it,  to  increase  the  shelter.  The  side  walls  may 
be  of  the  same  or  of  a  lesser  height — ten  feet  will  probably  be 
sufficient.  And  the  front  wall  should  not  be  higher  than  six 
feet  or  five  feet  six  inches;  or  its  place  may  be  supplied  by  a 
hedge,  if  absolute  enclosure  is  not  needed.  Where  a  planta- 
tion is  necessary  on  the  south  side  of  a  kitchen  garden  to 


Various  Accessories  243 

screen  it  from  the  pleasure  grounds,  it  should  be  composed 
only  of  shrubs. 

All  round  the  inside  of  a  kitchen  garden,  whether  it  have 
walls  or  not,  there  should  be  a  border  of  greater  or  less  width, 
that  according  to  its  aspect  the  various  kinds  of  suitable 
plants  that  take  up  little  space  or  require  a  peculiar  position 
may  find  their  proper  place.  Such  borders  are  still  more 
requisite  when  there  are  walls,  to  give  space  for  the  roots  of 
fruit  trees  to  spread  in  them  and  to  bring  the  trees  more 
thoroughly  within  reach.  They  may  vary  in  width  from  six 
to  twelve  or  fifteen  feet,  with  reference  to  the  size  of  the 
garden  and  the  kind  of  tree  that  has  to  be  cultivated  in 
them  and  the  height  of  the  walls.  Borders  with  a  warm  sunny 
aspect  may  be  wider  than  such  as  are  colder  and  more  shaded. 

On  the  inner  side  of  the  walks  and  either  at  the  front  or 
back  of  another  small  border,  a  good  place  for  fruit  trees 
treated  as  espaliers  will  be  found.  When  walls  are  not  used 
or  there  are  not  enough  of  them  for  growing  such  things  as 
some  of  the  better  kinds  of  pears,  espalier  fences  will  be  a 
good  substitute  and  may  sometimes  be  employed  with  advan- 
tage for  apples  likewise.  Strong  wire  fences  about  six  feet 
high  for  espaliers  are  now  mostly  preferred  to  wooden  ones 
for  appearance  and  durability,  and  they  are  also  more  con- 
venient because  of  the  smallness  and  roundness  of  the  bars. 
In  the  absence  of  espaliers,  however,  these  inside  borders 
may  be  appropriated  to  dwarf  pear,  apple,  cherry,  or  plum 
trees,  and  if  the  space  permit  to  gooseberries  and  currants 
as  well.  The  borders  which  run  north  and  south  should 
generally  be  devoted  to  espalier  and  other  trees,  and  goose- 
berry, currant,  raspberry,  or  other  bushes  be  put  on  the  bor- 
ders that  take  a  contrary  direction.  This  rule  is  derived 
from  the  amount  of  shade  cast  by  trees,  however  dwarf  they 
may  be. 


244  Landscape   Gardening 

When  the  form  of  a  kitchen  garden  is  ^  parallelogram  the 
longest  sides  should  be  those  from  east  to  west  that  a  greater 
length  of  south  wall  may  be  obtained.  And  if  there  be  a 
secondary  slope  in  the  ground  as  well  as  one  to  the  south  it 
should  be  to  the  west  in  preference  to  the  east ;  for  crops  that 
are  growing  on  an  easterly  bank  sufifer  most  from  spring 
frosts,  in  consequence  of  their  catching  the  sun  so  much 
earlier  in  the  morning. 

Either  within  the  kitchen  garden  or  not  far  from  it,  there 
should  be  a  moderately  large  cistern,  basin,  or  pool  of  water, 
or  a  pump  with  an  open  cistern  attached.  A  good  deal  of 
watering  is  sometimes  required,  and  water  is  always  so  much 
better  for  plants  when  it  has  been  well  exposed  to  the  action 
of  the  air  in  an  open  cistern  or  vessel. 

Somewhere  at  the  back  of  the  kitchen  garden,  one  or  more 
sheds  will  be  wanted  for  a  variety  of  uses,  together  with  a 
yard  for  rubbish,  manure,  compost,  etc.,  and  which  last 
should  be  accessible  at  some  point  with  a  horse  and  cart. 

Perfect  drainage  is  particularly  essential  for  a  kitchen 
garden,  also  a  rather  deep  alluvial  soil.  Beyond  the  depth 
of  two  feet,  however,  any  ground  or  border  will  be  unfit  for 
fruit  trees,  and  for  the  better  kinds  it  will  be  prudent  to  put 
a  layer  of  stones  and  rubbish  below  the  border  at  that  depth 
to  prevent  the  roots  from  passing  away  too  far  from  light 
and  air.  If  a  kitchen  garden  be  on  a  slope  towards  any  point 
near  the  south  it  will  be  drier  and  warmer,  both  of  which 
would  be  advantageous. 

A  kitchen  garden  may  sometimes  be  made  to  embrace  an 
ornamental  strip  of  ground  down  the  center,  for  the  display 
of  flowers,  and  this  may  take  .the  form  of  a  border  on  either 
side  of  a  grass  path,  or  of  a  series  of  flower  beds  cut  out  of 
grass,  on  the  sides  of  a  gravel  walk.  In  both  instances  the 
dressed  portion  should  be  well  defined  and  separated  from 


Various  Accessories  245 

the  vegetable  department  by  hedges  or  by  what  would  be 
much  more  appropriate  and  useful  —  espalier  fruit  trees. 

Orchards  should  be  introduced  as  a  part  of  every  rural 
estate  which  has  more  than  the  most  limited  area.  An 
orchard  will  give  opportunity  for  the  growing  of  fruits  in 
much  greater  quantity  than  will  be  supplied  by  the  dwarf 
fruit  trees  already  suggested  for  the  kitchen  garden.  Nothing 
can  be  more  ornamental  in  itself  than  a  thrifty  orchard,  par- 
ticularly of  apple  trees.  The  climate  varies  so  much  in  dif- 
ferent portions  of  America,  and  with  it  the  requirements  with 
regards  to  orchards,  that  general  directions  can  hardly  be 
given.  At  any  rate  such  instructions  can  better  be  sought 
in  books  devoted  to  fruit  growing  than  in  one  devoted  to 
ornamental  gardening. 

5.  An  aviary  may  occasionally  be  a  very  pretty  feature  in  a 
garden  and  give  a  character  to  a  spot  that  would  be  otherwise 
dull  or  defective.  It  will  be  proper  in  almost  any  of  the  sites 
which  have  been  declared  suitable  for  summer  houses,  and 
may  be  made  rustic,  trellised,  or  architectural  as  the  local- 
ity may  demand.  It  ought,  however,  by  all  means,  to  be 
sheltered,  sunny,  and  dry,  or  the  birds  will  never  be  healthy, 
and  to  be  kept  close  and  heated  artificially  for  tender 
birds  or  more  open  and  airy  for  such  as  are  hardier.  It 
should  be  well  paved  or  floored  with  asphalt  to  exclude  ver- 
min. A  recess  at  the  back  or  end  of  a  conservatory  is  some- 
times selected  for  canaries  and  birds  from  warmer  climates 
and  is  particularly  appropriate  for  any  song  birds,  their  notes 
seeming  to  sound  more  natural  and  tuneful  among  plants 
and  flowers. 

For  bees,  the  kitchen  garden  is  a  more  congenial  place, 
though  a  neat  set  of  hives  would  not  be  an  unfit  decoration 
to  the  pleasure  grounds,  in  a  private  part.  They  ought  to 
have  plenty  of  sun,  and  some  shelter,  and  be  kept  at  a  dis- 


246  Landscape  Gardening 

tance  of  several  feet  from  a  walk,  that  persons  may  pass  by 
without  interrupting  them,  or  incurring  the  danger  of  being 
stung. 

6.  The  Gate  Lodge. — Although  the  old-fashioned  notion 
of  a  porter's  lodge  at  the  entrance  gate  of  a  private  place  has 
fallen  into  disfavor  in  America,  and  although  lodges  will  sel- 
dom be  needed  in  a  small  place,  it  may  be  well  to  offer  a  few 
suggestions  respecting  them  with  an  eye  to  cases  in  which 
they  may  be  legitimately  introduced.  Unless  a  drive  is  long 
enough  to  carry  the  entrance  so  far  from  the  house  that  the 
lodge  would  not  be  seen  from  it,  the  erection  of  a  lodge  at 
all  will  be  in  very  questionable  taste,  for  one  of  the  first 
requisites  is  that  it  should  not  come  into  view  from  the  win- 
dows. 

The  smaller  the  place  and  the  shorter  the  drive,  the  more 
quiet,  modest,  and  low  should  be  the  entrance  lodge.  Some- 
times however  in  peculiar  situations  the  ofi&ces  of  the  house 
or  other  buildings  may  be  so  lengthened  out  that  the  lodge 
will  form  a  portion  of  the  entire  group,  when  it  may  prop- 
erly have  an  upper  as  well  as  lower  floor.  In  general 
however  it  should  be  all  on  one  floor  and  ought  always  to 
correspond  with  the  style  of  the  house,  being  rather  plainer 
in  its  character  than  more  ornamental.  It  must  likewise 
blend  with  the  entrance  gates  and  gate  piers  in  its  character 
and  fittings. 

A  lodge  should  be  so  placed  as  to  command  the  best  view 
of  the  gates  to  which  it  must  be  near  enough  to  appear  to 
belong  to  them;  and  it  should  also  overlook  as  much  of  the 
outside  road  and  of  the  drive  as  possible.  For  this  last 
reason  it  is  better  to  put  it  on  the  inner  side  of  the  curve 
which  the  drive  may  take  where  this  is  at  all  practicable. 
A  few  flowers  and  flowering  shrubs  around  a  lodge  will  be 
proper  accompaniments  to  it  as  a  dwelling  and  will  make  it 


Various  Accessories 


247 


appear  lively  and  pleasant.  There  should  not  be  any  regular 
garden  attached  to  it  however.  A  small  porch  with  climb- 
ers where  the  style  will  allow  it  is  always  pretty,  cottage- 
like, useful,  and  attractive.  Even  a  plain  covered  way  round 
two  or  three  of  its  sides  supported  by  rude  pillars  for  climb- 


Fig.  66.     Gate  Lodge  and  Entrance. 

ing  plants  will  be  a  congenial  and  delightful   feature    in 
summer. 

The  position  of  a  lodge  and  the  form  which  wing  walls  to 
an  entrance  may  assume  will  receive  additional  illustration 
from  the  examples  now  to  be  adduced.  Fig.  66  shows  the 
entrance  to  an  exceedingly  delightful  place  in  the  valley  of 
the  Lune,  about  three  miles  above  Lancaster,  which  I  ar- 
ranged for  Adam  Hodgson,  Esq.,  of  Liverpool.  The  house 
is  planted  on  the  spot  which  has  been  aptly  described  by 
the  poet  Gray  as  presenting  "one  of  the  best  afternoon  views 


248  Landscape  Gardening 

in  England."  The  site  is  an  elevated  platform,  with  a  sud- 
den bend  in  the  river  immediately  below  it,  and  a  long, 
winding  stretch  of  river  extending  up  the  valley  to  the 
east,  the  valley  being  closed  in  at  its  head  by  the  highest  of 
the  Yorkshire  hills  —  Ingleborough.  To  the  southeast  and 
south  there  is  a  most  picturesque  and  varied  hill  partially 
clothed  with  woods  and  always  presenting  the  most  striking 
diversity  of  color.  On  the  north  side,  within  the  estate,  is  a 
wooded  eminence  scarred  with  rock  and  broken  by  an  old 
quarry.  And  the  place  has  had  the  advantage,  in  the  dis- 
posal of  its  woods,  of  artists  no  less  distinguished  than  Mr. 
Gilpin  and  Sir  John  Nasmyth. 

The  entrance  is  in  the  bay  of  a  curve  in  the  high  road  and 
the  lodge  is  an  attractive  design  in  the  Gothic  style.  It 
is  proposed  to  erect  low  walls  between  the  piers  shown  in 
the  wing  fences,  and  put  a  low  iron  fence  composed  of  two 
or  three  strong  horizontal  bars  with  only  the  necessary 
uprights  at  intervals,  on  the  top  of  these  walls.  The  drive 
which  is  only  between  300  and  400  yards  long  will  be  kept 
entirely  within  the  enclosure  of  the  dressed  grounds. 

Fig.  67  shows  the  entrance  to  Halton  Grange,  near  Run- 
corn, the  residence  of  Thomas  Johnson,  Esq.  The  lodge  here 
being  in  the  Italian  character  and  the  walls  about  the  gates 
being  treated  in  a  more  elaborate  architectural  manner,  there 
is  a  propriety  in  making  them  concave  to  the  high  road,  a 
device  which  always  gives  emphasis  to  the  entrance  to  a 
place,  and  also  adds  dignity  unless  the  space  be  badly  treated. 
The  drive,  too,  being  much  longer,  and  there  being  another 
gate  at  the  point  where  the  pleasure  grounds  are  entered,  the 
plantations  have  to  be  fenced  in  separately  as  shown  by  the 
dotted  lines,  and  the  wire  fence  on  the  left  includes  the  small 
grass  plot  around  the  lodge.  This  entrance  is  close  to  the 
boundary  of  the  property,  that  being  the  side  on  which  Run- 


Various  Accessories 


249 


corn  lies,  and  it  being  nearly  always  approached  from  that 
quarter. 

The  plan,  fig.  68,  exhibits  an  entrance  of  a  more  imposing 
class  and  belongs  to  a  much  more  extensive  property.  It  is 
the  principal  approach  to  Leighton  Hall,  near  Welshpool,  the 


Fig.  67.      Simple  Lodge  and  Entrance. 


seat  of  John  Naylor,  Esq.  The  wing  walls  and  lodge  are  of 
stone,  a  species  of  black  trap,  with  white  stone  copings  and 
trimmings,  and  there  is  an  elaborate  and  massive  archway 
for  carriages,  with  side  arches  for  foot  passengers.  The 
ogee  form  of  the  wing  walls  is  in  itself  elegant  and  is  adapted 
to  the  Gothic  style  of  the  lodge  and  mansion. 

My  last  illustration  of  this  class,  fig.  69,  is  drawn  from  a 


250 


Landscape  Gardening 


new  entrance,  sketched  by  me,  to  the  property  of  Sir  Robert 
Gerard,  Bart.,  at  Garswood.  The  point  of  entrance  here  is 
particularly  happy,  being  at  the  junction  of  four  roads, — a 
circumstance  that  is  often  of  itself  sufficient  to  determine 
the  position  of  some  kind  of  inlet  to  a  place.     Being  intended 


Imposing  Recessed  Entrance. 


chiefly  for  the  St.  Helens  road,  however,  it  is  called  the  St. 
Helens  entrance  to  distinguish  it  from  two  other  approaches 
to  the  hall.  And  as  the  property  around  it  belongs  to  Sir 
Robert  Gerard  the  corners  between  the  contiguous  roads 
are  intended  to  be  cut  off  from  the  fields  behind  them,  and 
planted  in  the  manner  shown,  being  kept  in  grass,  and  separ- 


Various  Accessories 


251 


ated  from  the  roads  only  by  an  open  fence  of  posts  and 
chains.  In  this  way  there  will  be  a  certain  amount  of  suit- 
able furniture  all  around  the  entrance.     The  wing  fences  will 


Fig.  69.      An  Unusual  Type  of  Entrance. 

be  of  ornamental  iron,  on  a  proper  plinth,  and  will  extend  on 
either  side  as  far  as  the  last  piers  shown  in  the  sketch  where 
they  will  be  joined  by  the  park  wall.    The  gates,  of  which 


252  Landscape  Gardening 

there  will  be  one  for  carriages,  and  two  for  foot  passengers, 
will  be  of  similar  material.  The  drive  is  straight  only  in  so 
far  as  it  passes  through  an  old  plantation  which  is  kept  as 
an  enclosure.  After  leaving  this  it  will  curve  gently  to  the 
right  across  the  park  to  the  hall. 

In  each  of  the  plans  thus  given  the  lodge  is  supplied  in  its 
rear  with  a  small  enclosed  yard  containing  the  usual  con- 
veniences. All  the  lodges  are  on  one  floor  only  and  all  are 
more  or  less  embosomed  in  trees. 

Double  lodges,  one  on  either  side  of  entrance  gates,  have  a 
great  air  of  pretension  about  them  and  can  seldom  be  justi- 
fied by  necessity.  The  only  way,  indeed,  in  which  they  can 
be  rendered  tolerable  is  by  connecting  them  with  a  central 
archway  or  otherwise  working  them  up  with  the  aid  of  walls 
into  one  group;  the  lodges  themselves  being  partly  thrust 
out  beyond  the  walls.  Even  then,  however,  their  use  is  very 
questionable  unless  the  entrance  to  a  place  should  happen 
to  terminate  the  street  of  a  town  or  village,  when  two  lodges 
corresponding  in  position  and  character  may  possibly  be 
made  effective. 

7.  Seaside  Gardens.  —  Certain  localities  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  seacoast  are  so  liable  to  a  visitation  of  violent 
gales,  bringing  with  them  such  quantities  of  saline  matter, 
that  scarcely  anything  in  the  way  of  trees  and  shrubs  can  be 
induced  to  live  in  them,  much  less  to  become  ornamental. 
And  where,  as  is  frequently  likewise  the  fact,  the  surface  of 
the  land  is  covered  solely  with  sterile  sands,  which,  unless 
clothed  with  vegetation,  are  constantly  shifting  their  posi- 
tion, it  is  the  more  important  that  some  definite  rule  of 
treatment  should  be  established  which  shall  at  least  help  to 
mitigate  or  remedy  the  evil,  and  give  a  special  sort  of  interest 
to  a  place.  This  renders  it  proper,  therefore,  to  devote  a  few 
words  separately  to  seaside  gardens. 


Various  Accessories  253 

The  mode  of  arrangement  which  I  have  found  most  satis- 
factory under  such  circumstances  is  to  give  great  prominence 
to  grass  in  a  garden  and  by  banks  of  varied  form  and  height 
to  secure  some  degree  of  diversity,  obtaining  shelter  also 
by  depressing  certain  parts  of  the  lawn  and  throwing  these 
into  the  shape  of  a  sunk  panel.  Fig.  70  will  more  fully 
explain  my  meaning,  this  being  the  plan  of  a  portion  of  the 
garden  to  be  attached  to  a  villa  at  Birkdale,  near  South- 
port.  The  land  is  close  to  the  seashore,  and  is  composed 
entirely  of  sand.  The  place  is  open  to  the  full  violence  of  the 
northwesterly  gales. 

In  the  plan,  i  is  the  house,  2  the  house  yard,  3  the  stables 
and  similar  outbuildings,  4  a  part  of  the  stable  yard.  There 
is  a  descending  terrace  bank  two  feet  deep  at  5,  vases  on 
pedestals  at  6,  another  descending  grass  bank  four  feet  deep 
at  8,  a  sunk  level  lawn  which  might  have  a  few  flower  beds 
upon  it  or  be  used  as  a  bowling  green  at  9,  a  strong  close 
wooden  fence  along  the  seashore  at  10,  and  a  path  to  the 
seashore  which  would  be  common  to  this  house  and  to  a 
contiguous  villa  at  11,  the  path  being  kept  low  where  it 
passes  the  pleasure  garden.  The  dotted  line  7  merely  shows 
the  edge  of  the  bank  whence  the  ground  drops  rapidly  to  the 
shore. 

Such  peculiarities  as  the  altered  surface  of  the  ground  will 
present  may  be  better  understood  from  the  section,  fig.  71, 
which  is  to  the  same  scale  (vertical  and  horizontal)  as  the 
plan  and  is  made  from  the  line  A  to  B  on  the  latter.  By 
this  it  will  be  seen  that  the  ground  on  the  south  or  entrance 
front  of  the  house  is  to  be  five  feet  below  the  ground  imme- 
diately north  of  the  house.  This  is  purposely  designed  to  act 
in  connection  with  the  house,  outbuildings,  and  walls  from 
them  as  a  shelter  to  the  south  garden.  And  as  the  sand  is  so 
easily  and  inexpensively  removed  almost  anything  may  be 


254 


Landscape  Gardening 


done  with  it.  The  section  will  further  show  the  drops  and 
depressions  in  the  north  garden  and  the  slope  to  the  northern 
boundary.  This  slope  is  to  be  densely  covered  with  poplars, 
willows,  Wych  elms,  and  sycamores,  which  when  growing 


Various  Accessories  255 

in  masses  will  rise  five  or  six  feet  above  the  top  of  the  bank 
and  thus  produce  a  fringe  of  summer  foliage  as  well  as  impart 
additional  shelter  to  the  sunk  lawn.  The  planting  at  the 
sides  will  be  of  a  similar  description  with  double  and  single 
furze  to  give  a  little  evergreen  clothing  at  the  edges. 

By  the  variation  of  line  in  the  terrace  banks,  and  by 
having  the  entire  lawn  very  evenly  laid  and  nicely  kept  the 
want  of  shrubs  and  flowers  .will  in  some  degree  be  counter- 
balanced, and  there  will  be  scarcely  any  bare  ground  for  the 
wind  to  act  upon.  In  preparing  the  ground  for  either  grass 
or  planting  here  it  is  customary  to  fix  the  sand  by  spreading 
over  it  a  coating  of  mud,  which  is  obtained  on  the  seashore 
and  is  of  a  somewhat  tenacious  or  clayey  nature.     And  it  is 


Fig.  71.     Section  through  Garden  shown  in  Fig.  70. 

remarkable  how  such  trees  as  sycamores  will  contrive  to  draw 
support  from  the  mere  sand  by  striking  their  roots  deep  and 
transforming  them  into  a  fleshy  instead  of  a  woody  sub- 
stance. In  removing  some  old  sycamores  from  a  similarly 
sandy  locality  several  years  ago,  I  found  that  their  roots  had 
entered  into  the  sand  to  the  depth  of  ten  and  twelve  feet, 
and  that  these  roots  were  of  a  succulent  nature  and  fully 
half  an  inch  in  diameter  throughout. 

8.  The  Town  or  City  Garden.  —  Another  description  of 
place  that  calls  for  a  brief  special  notice  is  the  town  or  city 
garden  which  is  commonly  a  narrow  strip  of  land  but  little  if 
any  wider  than  the  house  which  stands  upon  it,  and  varying 
in  depth  according  to  the  value  of  land  in  the  neighborhood 
or  the  position  of  the  adjoining  roads.  For  gardens  of  such 
a  class  and  shape  there  can  be  little  question  that  the  most 


256  Landscape  Gardening 

regular  plan  of  arrangement  will  be  in  all  respects  the  best. 
The  walks  should  be  straight  and  at  right  angles  and  the 
beds  and  masses  be  symmetrical  and  well  balanced.  A  walk 
on  either  side  of  such  a  garden  or  one  down  the  center  will 
be  preferable  to  having  a  walk  on  only  one  side.  And  effect 
may  be  aimed  at  in  the  way  of  lines  or  rows  of  beds  and  plants 
with  a  summer  house,  a  small  greenhouse,  a  vase,  a  cluster 
of  shrubs,  or  other  pleasing  object  to  terminate  the  little 
avenue  thus  created. 

As  much  of  open  lawn  as  is  practicable  and  a  predomi- 
nance of  evergreens  will  be  desirable  for  such  gardens,  since 
these  will  be  agreeable  at  all  seasons  of  the  year.  And 
extreme  smoothness  and  neatness  of  finish  and  of  keeping 
are  essential.  The  beds  introduced  should  be  scrupulously 
simple  in  form  and  arrangement. 


CHAPTER  IX 

Practical  Directions 

Questions  of  taste  having  now  been  discussed  to  as  great 
an  extent  as  is  compatible  with  the  limits  of  a  book  like  the 
present,  I  have  only  further  to  notice  a  few  things  respecting 
the  actual  execution  of  work;  and  these  refer  rather  to  mat- 
ters of  expense  or  comfort  and  the  elements  of  success  in 
cultivation.  Of  them,  likewise,  it  may  be  truly  said,  as  of 
points  in  taste,  that  little  considerations  will  often  be  far 
from  light  or  trifling  in  their  influences  but  may  determine 
altogether  the  propriety  or  undesirableness  of  any  particular 
course.  Indeed  the  nearer  we  approach  to  subjects  entirely 
practical  the  more  weighty  and  important  will  every  topic  of 
inquiry  become,  in  proportion  as  necessary  things  are  of 
greater  moment  than  such  as  are  merely  desirable. 

As  books,  however,  can  only  deal  with  general  points  of 
practice  there  will  not  be  much  in  this  part  of  the  work  to 
detain  us  long.  The  more  minute  details  belong  rather  to 
the  business  of  ordinary  gardening  than  to  that  of  laying 
out  and  forming  a  place. 

I,  Drainage. —  The  first  operation  on  land  that  has  to  be 
newly  arranged  will  be  to  drain  it  thoroughly.  No  descrip- 
tion of  ornamental  or  useful  plants  will  thrive  well  upon 
undrained  ground  that  is  not  naturally  dry  and  open  nor 
can  such  land  ever  yield  any  permanent  enjoyment  and  com- 
fort. A  cold  damp  soil  is  decidedly  uncongenial  to  both 
animal  and  vegetable  life. 

Drainage  is  not  merely  valuable  in  the  removal  of  the  stag- 
257 


258  Landscape  Gardening 

nant  water  which  is  so  injurious  to  plants  and  so  productive 
of  discomfort;  it  also  has  the  direct  effect  of  making  the  soil 
warmer  and  admitting  air  and  gases  freely.  The  tempera- 
ture of  ground  that  is  saturated  with  water  can  never  be 
greatly  increased,  by  whatever  power  of  sun  it  may  be  acted 
upon,  nor  can  air  circulate  properly  through  a  hquid  medium. 
Warmth  and  air  to  the  roots  being  essential  to  the  healthy 
growth  and  fertility  of  plants,  drainage  becomes  of  the  highest 
consequence  in  soils  that  are  naturally  wet. 

Underdraining  is  now  generally  admitted  to  be  the  only 
effectual  mode  for  any  description  of  land,  but  this  is  espe- 
cially the  case  with  garden  ground.  The  roots  of  many  vege- 
tables, and  most  trees  and  shrubs,  strike  down  so  far  into 
the  earth  that  shallow  drains  would  be  continually  in  the 
way  of  their  progress,  and  would  be  very  liable  to  be  choked 
or  injured  by  them.  The  more  close,  hard,  and  retentive  the 
subsoil  may  be,  moreover,  the  stronger  will  be  the  necessity 
for  deep  drains.  Still,  any  extravagant  depth  need  never  be 
attempted.  Three  feet  six  inches  to  four  feet  below  the  ordi- 
nary surface  will  in  general  be  the  utmost  depth  required 
for  common  drains,  while  main  drains  should  be  two  or  three 
inches  deeper.  Where  the  substratum  is  only  sandy,  three 
feet  for  the  ordinary  drains  will  usually  be  enough.  They 
can  be  about  three  inches  wide  at  the  bottom  and  fourteen 
or  sixteen  inches,  or  just  enough  to  admit  the  draining  tool 
conveniently,  at  the  top,  keeping  the  main  drains  one  or  two 
inches  wider  at  the  bottom  in  accordance  with  the  size  of 
the  tiles  to  be  employed.  Common  drains  in  gardens  may 
be  in  parallel  lines  of  not  more  than  five  yards  apart  and 
nearer  if  the  soil  be  very  heavy. 

Tiles  or  pipes  are  the  materials  most  frequently  chosen  for 
draining  land,  though  they  are  certainly  not  the  best  for 
gardens  or  where  trees  have  to  be  planted.     They  are  very 


Practical    Directions  259 

apt  to  become  filled  up  or  obstructed  by  the  roots  of  plants 
entering  them,  or  by  the  action  of  moles,  rats,  rabbits,  etc. 
Drains  formed  with  rubblestone  or  any  similar  material  are 
therefore  superior  to  tile  drains  in  gardens.  Where  rock  is 
plentiful  it  can  be  broken  into  pieces  of  two  to  three  inches 
diameter  and  placed  loosely  in  the  common  drains,  to  the 
depth  of  twelve  or  fifteen  inches;  or  similar  pieces  of  broken 
brick,  flint,  coarse  gravel,  large  cinders  or  clinkers,  or  what- 
ever else  of  a  like  nature  abounds  in  the  district  can  be  used 
instead  of  rock.  A  rubble  drain  should  not  be  less  than  five 
or  six  inches  wide  at  the  bottom. 

For  main  drains,  however,  tiles  of  4-6  inches  in  diameter 
will  be  better  as  the  principal  conduits  of  water,  but  these 
should  also  be  covered  with  at  least  twelve  inches  of  the 
material  of  which  the  other  drains  are  composed.  Glazed, 
or  "Akron"  tiles,  where  they  can  be  procured,  will  always  be 
preferable  to  porous  tiles;  especially  those  which  are  made 
with  collars  to  cover  the  joints  have  a  decided  advantage 
over  those  ordinarily  used. 

Over  the  rubble  with  which  both  classes  of  drains  are  thus 
filled  up,  a  sod  of  from  one  to  two  inches  in  thickness  and  the 
full  width  of  the  drain  should  be  inverted,  to  prevent  the  soil 
from  crumbling  and  washing  down  among  the  stones  and 
clogging  up  the  interstices.  As  this  sod  will  last  many  years, 
until  the  soil  has  become  quite  consolidated,  it  will  be  a  most 
useful  auxiliary  to  the  drains,  and  tend  to  keep  their  action 
more  perfect.  Fig.  72  represents  a  minor  rubble  drain,  with 
the  broken  stone  in  it  (b)  and  a  sod  (a)  inverted  over  the 
latter.  Fig.  73  shows  a  main  drain  which  is  deeper  and 
wider,  having  a  tile  (c)  at  the  bottom  and  being  half  filled 
with  rubble  (b)  with  a  sod  (a)  over  the  broken  stone.  The 
scale  is  four  feet  to  an  inch. 

All  drains  should  be  cut  out  smoothly  with  even  sides  and 


26o  Landscape  Gardening 

a  very  flat  bottom  in  a  firm  soil,  that  the  sides  may  never  be 
falling  in  to  impede  the  flow  of  water,  and  that  there  may  not 
b'e  anything  like  httle  stagnant  pools  in  them.  They  shovdd 
each  have  a  sufficient  fall  by  running  down  the  natural  slope 
of  the  land,  and  the  main  drains,  being  the  general  recep- 
tacles, ought  to  have  a  somewhat  quicker  fall  than  the  rest. 
If  the  ground  be  very  flat,  a  fall  must  be  obtained  by  cutting 
the  drains  deeper  at  one  end  than  the  other. 

It  is  particularly  requisite  that  a  good  and  sufficient  out- 
fall for  discharging  from  a  place  all  the  water  that  accumu- 


Figs.  72  and  73.     Cross  Sections  of  Drains. 

lates  by  drainage  be  secured  and  be  under  due  control. 
Where  it  is  dependent  en  a  neighbor,  or  the  owner  of  another 
property,  it  will  always  be  exposed  to  interruption  and 
hazard.  Efforts  should  consequently  be  made  to  preserve 
its  independence.  In  these  days  of  attention  to  sewerage, 
the  common  sewer  which  receives  the  refuse  water  from  the 
house  will  be  an  excellent  medium  for  taking  away  the  soak- 
age  from  the  land,  if  this  can  be  at  all  readily  contrived. 

2.  Clearings. — In  forming  a  new  place  there  are  often  clear- 
ings to  be  made,  and  sometimes  the  removal  of  trees  becomes 
as  important  a  matter  as  their  planting  in  other  places. 
Where  woodlands  reach  the  magnitude  of  forests  it  will 


Practical    Directions  261 

always  be  best  to  have  such  clearings  undertaken  only  on 
the  advice  of  an  experienced  forester.  Where  trees  exist  on 
the  grounds  in  inopportune  places  they  may  often  be  removed 
to  other  situations  where  they  will  become  of  great  value. 
The  transplanting  of  large  trees  is  nowadays  a  well-established 
procedure,  and  no  good  tree  should  be  sacrificed  simply  be- 
cause it  happens  to  stand  where  it  is  not  wanted. 

Wherever  old  hedgerows  exist  and  require  to  be  removed 
and  leveled  in  a  part  that  is  to  be  converted  into  a  grass- 
field  or  park,  the  greatest  care  should  be  exercised  in  preserv- 
ing the  better  part  of  the  trees  and  bushes  that  may  be  in 
them  and  in  retaining  these  rather  as  broken  groups  than 
merely  as  single  specimens.  More  may  be  done  to  break  the 
line  of  a  hedgerow  by  a  due  regard  to  the  retention  of  bushes 
around  or  in  connection  with  trees  or  in  tufts  by  themselves 
than  by  any  amount  of  thinning  that  disregards  this  mixture. 
And  it  will  sometimes  happen  that  the  transplantation  of  a 
few  old  thorns,  so  as  to  break  the  lines  of  others  or  soften 
off  a  cluster  of  trees  will  be  of  the  greatest  service. 

Special  pains  should  be  taken  not  to  cut  away  too  much 
earth  from  such  trees  or  bushes  as  may  be  selected  to  remain, 
but  rather  to  add  soil  to  the  bank  on  which  they  stand  than 
to  leave  the  roots  at  all  bare.  By  the  common  practice  of 
spreading  down  hedgerow  banks,  so  as  to  reduce  them  to 
the  level  of  the  ground  around  trees,  the  trees  that  are  left 
often  get  blown  over  by  wind  or  are  gradually  by  the  expo- 
sure of  the  roots  rendered  feebler  and  feebler  until  at  length 
they  perish  from  sheer  exhaustion. 

3.  Building  Walks. —  Very  much  of  the  pleasure  of  a  gar- 
den will  depend  on  the  manner  in  which  its  walks  are  formed. 
A  walk  that  becomes  muddy  or  slimy  in  wet  weather  or  after 
frosts,  or  allows  the  water  to  lodge  upon  it  during  and  after 
rains,  or  has  a  surface  of  coarse  and  harsh  or  loose  materials. 


262 


Landscape  Gardening 


will  do  much  towards  deterring  persons  from  using  their  gar- 
dens so  constantly,  or  at  least  will  rob  them  of  a  good  deal  of 
enjoyment. 

To  be  perfect,  walks  and  drives  should  be  dry,  smooth  and 
even,  hard  and  firm,  in  all  weathers  and  at  every  season. 
And  the  more  nearly  they  approach  to  the  reahzation  of 
these  things  the  more  they  will  contribute  to  comfort  and 
ease. 

Dryness  can  be  attained  in  a  walk  by  shaping  the  ground 
properly  in  forming  it,  by  rounding  it  up  slightly  in  the  mid- 
dle, by  giving  it  a  decided  fall  in  some  direction  by  placing 
gratings  and  catch  basins  for  water  at  the  lowest  points  and 


Fig.  74.     Excavation  for  Walk. 

by  using  suitable  materials  both  for  the  foundation  and  the 
surface. 

In  the  ground  formation  of  a  walk  or  drive  (for  the  latter 
may  be  regarded  as  a  larger  description  of  walk  in  a  small 
garden)  a  firm  bottom  should  be  obtained  and  it  should  be 
pared  as  smooth  as  possible,  keeping  it  from  three  to  six 
inches  higher  in  the  center  according  to  its  width.  At  either 
edge  the  ground  should  be  sloped  gradually  down  for  about  a 
foot  or  eighteen  inches  in  width  to  the  extreme  margins 
where  it  may  be  six  or  nine  inches  deeper  than  at  any  other 
part.  (See  the  cross-section  in  fig.  74,  which  represents  the 
bed  of  the  walk.)  These  extra  cuts  at  the  sides  are  to  be  filled 
with  rougher  material  and  to  follow  the  general  inclination 
of  the  walk  for  the  purpose  of  drainage.     They  can  com- 


Practical  Directions  263 

mtinicate  occasionally  with  the  ordinary  ground  drains,  to  let 
olif  the  water  that  may  accumulate  in  them.  By  laying  the 
groundwork  of  a  walk  thus  high  in  the  center  and  smoothly 
sloping  to  a  kind  of  drain  at  each  side  the  utmost  possible 
dryness  will  be  gained. 

Here  and  there,  however,  in  the  lowest  parts  of  the  walk 
where  water  would  collect  on  the  surface,  square  holes  or 
catch  basins  cut  deeper  than  the  ordinary  drains  of  the  land, 
to  receive  the  water  from  grates  placed  on  the  surface,  may 
be  formed,  and  partly  filled  with  rubble  or,  what  is  better, 
lined  at  the  sides  and  bottom  with  flat  tiles,  bricks,  or  slates. 
These  lodges  can  communicate,  by  means  of  short  branch 
pipe  or  rubble  drains,  with  the  nearest  common  drain,  the 
small  drains  from  the  lodges  being  on  such  a  level  as  to 
receive  the  overflow  merely,  while  the  sand  and  sediment  will 
remain  to  be  occasionally  removed. 

A  walk  should  have  from  nine  to  twelve  inches  of  material 
upon  it,  and  a  drive  rather  more.  Only  about  three  inches  of 
this  on  the  surface  need  be  of  fine  gravel.  The  rest  may  be 
rubblestone,  flints,  coarse  gravel,  cinders,  or  any  angular  and 
irregularly  shaped  substance  that  will  remain  porous  and  dry. 
In  applying  this  coating,  the  crown  of  the  walk  may  be  reduced 
by  putting  a  less  quantity  in  the  center  than  at  the  sides. 
Walks  of  one  yard  wide  can  be  raised  about  an  inch  in  the 
center  when  filled,  and  those  of  two  yards  wide  about  two 
inches.  For  wider  walks  that  are  straight,  in  formal  garden- 
ing, a  greater  proportionate  flatness  is  desirable,  or  they  wfll 
lose  some  of  their  dignity  and  effect.  The  three  inches  of 
gravel  can  be  evenly  spread  over  the  whole  surface. 

Gravel  is  exceedingly  variable  in  quality  in  different  parts 
of  the  country,  and  often  requires  some  little  artificial  mixture 
or  preparation  before  it  can  be  brought  into  a  right  state. 
Gravel  that  contains  much  lime  or  clay,  though  excellent  for 


264  Landscape   Gardening 

binding,  will  become  very  dirty  in  wet  weather,  and  break 
up  considerably  after  frost.  It  wants  the  addition  of  some 
stronger,  drier,  and  more  sandy  sort.  Sea  gravel,  again, 
(unless  it  be  the  muddy  sediment  deposited  on  the  shores  of 
some  great  tidal  rivers  and  containing  a  large  proportion  of 
half-decomposed  shells  which  help  to  bind  it  firmly  but  also 
to  make  it  cloggy  after  being  frozen)  will  never  bind  at  all 
without  the  help  of  lime  or  pulverized  clay,  or  a  strong  loam 
reduced  to  a  powdery  state  while  dry  and  added  in  the  pro- 
portion of  about  one-fifth  or  one-sixth.  Such  a  mixture  will, 
when  it  becomes  fully  set,  form  one  of  the  best  possible  sur- 
faces for  a  walk,  and  will  never  be  too  wet. 

As  the  perfection  of  a  walk  consists  in  smoothness  and 
freedom  from  rough  stones,  wliich  would  also  kick  up  in  dry 
weather  and  disturb  the  surface,  either  a  thin  upper  coating 
of  gravel  should  be  finely  screened,  or  the  whole  surface  may 
be  very  thoroughly  raked,  so  as  to  get  off  all  but  the  very 
smallest  gravel.  Road  scrapings,  where  they  are  tolerably 
free  from  dirt,  will  also,  if  sparingly  applied,  make  a  very 
even  and  excellent  surface  to  a  walk  when  gravel  is  scarce  or 
not  of  a  good  binding  nature. 

The  color  of  gravel  must  of  course  vary  according  to  what 
can  be  obtained  in  any  district.  Perhaps  the  best  color, 
where  there  is  any  choice,  is  the  full,  deep,  reddish  yellow  so 
common  around  London.  Whitish  gravels  are  usually  too 
conspicuous  and  cold  looking.  There  is  a  greater  richness 
and  warmth  in  the  appearance  of  the  yellower  kinds. 

What  very  much  affects  the  character  of  walks  is  the  way 
in  which  their  edgings  are  laid.  These  should  be  quite 
smooth,  thoroughly  flat  along  the  margins,  and,  for  some  part 
of  their  width  at  least,  precisely  on  the  same  level  at  both 
sides  and  very  well  defined  though  not  more  than  half  an 
inch  above  the  level  of  the  side  of  the  walk.     The  edges  ought 


Practical   Directions  265 

to  be  kept  at  one  uniform  distance  throughout,  unless  there 
be  some  special  reason  for  change.  Walks  that  are  not  care- 
fully formed  in  accordance  with  all  these  conditions  will 
appear  more  or  less  slovenly,  deficient  in  the  expression  of 
art,  and  indicative  of  an  unrefined  taste. 

To  render  the  edgings  of  a  walk  firm,  capable  of  being 
made  flat,  and  cut  evenly,  they  should  be  formed  of  what 
gardeners  call  rampering  sods.  These  are  thick  turf-covered 
masses  of  earth  cut  from  an  old  rough  pasture  and  about 
six  inches  wide,  and  four  to  six  inches  or  more  in  thickness. 
They  are  to  be  inverted  along  the  edges  of  walks,  leaving 
about  two  inches  to  be  cut  from  the  inner  edge,  next  the 
walk,  and  paring  down  the  surface  until  they  are  brought  to 
the  requisite  smoothness  of  level.  Edgings  thus  laid  will 
never  crumble  away  or  become  uneven  unless  with  extremely 
rough  usage. 

To  determine  the  width  most  proper  for  a  walk,  the  size 
and  arrangement  of  the  garden  will  have  to  be  taken  into 
account.  Straight  walks  should  always  be  wider  than  curved 
ones,  but  there  must  be  a  nice  proportion  maintained  between 
their  width  and  their  length,  as  any  excess  of  the  former 
would  diminish  the  latter.  From  six  to  eight  feet  will  gene- 
rally be  sufficient  for  the  width  of  a  straight  walk,  which 
should  certainly  not  be  narrower  than  six  feet.  A  terrace 
walk  may  even  be  ten  feet  wide,  or  wider,  if  the  house 
be  large  enough  to  justify  it.  For  serpentine  walks  from 
four  to  six  feet  will  be  about  the  right  width  in  gardens  of 
the  size  under  discussion,  four  feet  being  a  little  too  small, 
unless  the  space  be  very  contracted,  and  six  feet  somewhat 
too  large.  The  intermediate  width  will  be  best  in  most  cases. 
A  drive  can  be  eight,  ten,  twelve,  or  fourteen  feet  wide 
according  to  its  length,  and  object.  A  back  drive  that  is  a 
branch  from  the  main  approach  will  rarely  need  to  be  wider 


266  Landscape    Gardening 

than  eight  feet.  Ten  or  twelve  feet  will  generally  be  most 
appropriate  for  other  drives. 

It  will  be  of  some  moment  to  adjust  the  height  of  walks 
relative  to  the  general  level  of  the  ground  with  judgment  and 
discrimination.  As  straight  walks  are  intended  to  make 
prominent  features  in  a  place  they  should  range  as  perfectly 
as  possible  with  the  level  of  the  lawn.  Any  particular  eleva- 
tion, depression,  or  roundness  would  not  harmonize  with  the 
flatness  and  smoothness  so  desirable  in  the  grass.  If  there- 
fore they  are  just  half  an  inch  lower  than  the  grass  at  the 
edges  and  an  inch  and  a  half  higher  than  it  in  the  center 
(fig.  75a)  they  wall  have  two  inches  of  camber  which  will  be 
quite  sufficient. 

For  curved  walks,  as  it  will  be  a  matter  of  taste  to  keep 
them  more  or  less  thoroughly  out  of  sight,  a  few  inches  below 
the  surface  of  the  lawn  or  beds  will  be  the  fittest  level  for 
them,  save  where  it  is  intended  that  they  should  command 
particular  views,  when  they  can  be  more  or  less  raised.  In 
the  first  case  (fig.  756)  the  grass  can  slope  gently  down  to  a 
narrow  flat  edging  at  their  margins,  while  in  the  other  the 
turf  may  rise  as  gradually  to  join,  with  a  round  edge  (fig. 
75c),  a  broader  flat  edging  at  the  top.  Where  the  ground 
and  the  walks  themselves  are  well  drained,  and  the  surface 
of  the  former  has  been  perfectly  stirred,  there  will  be  no 
danger  of  depressed  walks  becoming  damp.  And  besides 
their  being  more  effectually  concealed  from  the  windows  or 
lawn,  persons  moving  along  them  will  see  the  plants  in  the 
beds  or  borders  or  on  the  lawn  to  greater  advantage;  they 
will  be  a  trifle  more  private  and  the  house  will  appear  higher 
and  bolder  as  viewed  from  them. 

But  curved  walks  will  always  require  to  have  a  greater 
degree  of  convexity  (fig.  ^s^)  and  if  they  are  six  feet  wide 
they  should,  while  keeping  half  an  inch  below  the  verges  at 


Practical    Directions 


267 


the  sides,  be  raised  in  the  center  two  and  a  half  inches  above 
the  level  of  those  verges,  thus  making  a  difference  of  three 
inches  between  the  center  and  the  sides.  And  where  the 
ground  is  very  damp  and  low  around  walks  that  have  to  be 
made  across  parks  and  their  being  rendered  conspicuous  is 


Fig-  75- 


Different  Forms  of   Walks. 


not  a  matter  of  consequence,  it  is  a  good  plan  to  let  the  edges 
rise  abruptly  out  of  the  ground  to  the  height  of  about  nine 
inches  (fig.  75^),  as  dryness  will  thus  be  effectually  secured. 
Grass  paths  that  are  not  much  used  and  are  intended 
chiefly  for  appearance  or  for  summer  enjoyment  may,  in 
some  situations,  or  as  connected  with  houses  in  the  style 


268  Landscape    Gardening 

which  prevailed  during  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  have  a  very 
neat  and  Hvely  effect.  They  should  ordinarily  be  straight 
and  will  seldom  look  well  unless  they  are  so.  They  will  of 
course  require  to  have  borders  of  flowers  or  shrubs  on  each 
side,  and  these  might  be  filled  with  rows  of  one  kind  of  plant, 
to  form  a  sort  of  avenue,  or  they  may  be  planted  promiscu- 
ously. When  required  as  a  common  thoroughfare  at  all 
times,  grass  walks  will  be  inappropriate,  because  they  would 
soon  wear  bare  and  would  be  wet  and  probably  dirty  during 
a  large  portion  of  the  year. 

On  good  firm  soil  and  in  a  climate  where  grass  thrives, 
turf  may  be  grown  strong  enough  even  to  bear  the  weight  of 
light  wagon  traffic,  and  thus  grass  drives  are  possible  in  such 
situations.  Grass  drives,  regularly  mowed  with  the  lawn 
mower,  are  clean  and  beautiful,  cheap  and  practical,  and  it 
is  a  wonder  that  they  are  not  more  frequently  used. 

4.  Grading.  — The  period  at  which  grading  is  performed 
in  laying  out  a  garden  is  not  the  least  among  the  practical 
matters  that  have  to  be  considered.  There  is  an  unhappy 
propensity  to  defer  this  till  the  very  moment  in  which  plant- 
ing and  turfing  have  to  be  done,  and  thus  due  preparation 
cannot  be  made  for  the  one,  while  the  other  settles  most 
irregularly  and  requires  subsequent  altering  and  leveling. 

Summer  and  autumn  are  essentially  the  best  seasons  for  all 
kinds  of  new  ground  work.  The  earth  is  then  driest,  and 
can  be  most  easily  moved  about,  and  will  not  be  injured  by 
trampling  or  wheeling.  Ground  put  into  shape  during  the 
summer  gets  time  to  settle  and  mellow  before  it  is  wanted 
for  either  planting  or  sodding,  and  anything  that  is  after- 
wards done  in  the  way  of  finishing  will  stand  better  and 
demand  less  alteration.  What  is  not  altogether  unimportant, 
likewise,  labor  can  then  be  carried  on  more  easily  and  can 
be  had  more  abundantly.     I  should  therefore  earnestly  press 


Practical   Directions  269 

those  about  to  form  gardens  not  to  put  off  the  operation  till 
spring,  but  to  take  advantage  of  the  late  summer  and  early 
autumn  weather  to  get  the  principal  part  of  the  work  done 
and  the  leading  outlines  of  everything  prepared.  Perhaps 
the  early  autumn  is  better  than  summer  for  the  purpose,  as 
the  ground  will  then  be  kept  partially  softened  by  rain  and 
turf  may  be  moved  if  required  without  being  killed. 

5.  Preparations  for  Planting.  —  In  the  preparation  of 
ground  for  planting  and  for  grass  the  difference  in  their 
requirements  will  have  to  be  kept  distinctly  in  mind.  Plan- 
tations can  hardly  have  too  much  good  soil.  A  thorough 
provision  of  suitable  and  mellow  earth  will  almost  neutralize 
the  disadvantages  of  climate  or  situation  and  keep  plants 
always  flourishing  and  healthy.  For  lawns,  on  the  other 
hand,  a  light,  shallower,  and  poorer  soil,  if  it  be  properly 
drained  and  worked  previously  to  sodding  or  sowing,  will 
be  preferable  as  tending  to  keep  down  undue  luxuriance, 
and  promote  the  growth  of  the  finer  grasses  and  check  the 
development  of  rank  weeds. 

Ground  that  is  in  any  degree  hea\y  or  that  has  been 
newly  drained  ought  to  be  deeply  worked  all  over,  whether 
for  grass  or  plants.  If  the  subsoil  be  clay,  it  can  be  turned 
up  loosely  in  the  bottom;  but  if  of  a  lighter  material  it  should 
be  brought  to  the  surface  for  plantations,  and  simply  turned 
over  in  the  bottom  of  the  trenches  for  grass.  It  will  always 
be  undesirable  to  bring  clay  to  the  surface  in  pleasure  gar- 
dens; though,  in  kitchen  gardens,  where  it  can  be  freely 
worked  and  mellowed  for  several  years,  the  common  mode 
of  inverting  the  positions  of  the  surface  soil  and  the  subsoil 
may  be  adopted.  The  reason  for  working  a  lighter  subsoil 
to  the  top  in  plantations  and  not 'for  grass  is  that  additions 
of  better  earth  can  be  made  to  the  former,  when  the  subsoil 
will  be  blended  with  this  in  planting,  while  it  is  rather  in- 


270  Landscape  Gardening 

tended  to  take  away  several  inches  of  the  topsoil  from  the 
grass  land  and  transfer  it  to  the  plantations.  Two,  three,  or 
four  inches  of  the  best  earth,  according  to  its  natural  depth, 
may  thus  be  abstracted  from  the  parts  intended  for  lawn, 
and  will  go  to  raise  and  enrich  the  plantations  without  in- 
juriously affecting  the  grass.  From  nine  to  twelve  inches 
in  depth  of  the  commonest  soil  will  be  amply  sufficient  for 
growing  lawn  grasses  to  perfection. 

In  shaping  and  forming  a  piece  of  garden  ground  where 
much  variation  from  the  original  surface  is  desired,  the  read- 
iest method  is  to  commence  at  the  lower  part  of  the  land, 
take  out  a  trench  across  it  of  about  four  feet  in  breadth,  and 
either  lower  or  fill  up  the  ground  as  the  trenching  proceeds. 
This  will  be  a  far  more  simple  and  economical  plan  than 
stripping  off  all  the  soil  and  putting  it  aside,  and  then 
working  the  ground  into  shape,  and  restoring  the  soil  to  the 
surface. 

All  the  soil  from  the  foundations  of  roads  or  walks  should 
further  be  applied  to  the  ground  intended  for  plantations. 
Even  where  the  walks  have  to  be  raised  rather  than  lowered, 
it  will  be  better  still  to  remove  the  soil  and  replace  it  with 
rubbish.  The  earth  obtained  from  the  foundations  of  the 
house  or  other  buildings  should  also  be  carefully  kept  apart 
from  the  subsoil  and  used  for  the  plantations.  And  it  will 
be  a  prudent  and  safe  rule  to  assume  that  no  amount  of  good 
earth  that  is  at  all  obtainable  from  any  of  the  sources  pointed 
out  will  be  otherwise  than  beneficial  for  shrubs  and  trees, 
or  for  fruit  trees  and  general  crops  in  the  kitchen  garden. 

If  the  soil  of  a  garden  be  moderately  light  and  a  good  mass 
of  it,  by  the  means  here  suggested,  be  procured  for  the 
shrubs  and  trees  and  for  the  flower  beds,  manures,  beyond 
such  things  as  lime,  soot,  wood  ashes,  decayed  leaves  or 
wood,  chemical  fertilizers  or  any  similar  matters  will  be  quite 


Practical    Directions  271 

unnecessary  for  the  ornamental  part.  Roses,  however,  de- 
mand a  richer  soil  and  are  much  improved  by  the  aid  of 
some  well-rotted  manure,  which  should  not  be  grudgingly 
administered 

But  where  the  earth  is  stiff  and  clayey  and  not  enough  of 
lighter  soil  is  within  reach  to  correct  its  retentiveness  and 
incapacity  for  growing  plants,  manures  will  then  not  only  be 
beneficial  but  necessary.  Common  stable  manure  may  be 
largely  applied  with  advantage  in  such  cases,  while  lime,  bone 
dust,  coal  ashes,  or  the  manure  from  the  ashpits  of  towns, 
or  the  sweeping  of  streets  will  be  invaluable.  And  these 
may  be  used,  though  with  a  more  niggardly  hand,  for  the 
parts  to  be  formed  into  lawn,  as  well  as  for  the  plantations. 

When  the  opportunities  and  patience  of  the  proprietor  allow 
it,  a  garden  will  be  greatly  improved  both  for  plants  and 
grass  if  it  can  be  deeply  dug  up  in  the  autumn,  a  year  before 
it  is  wanted  for  finishing,  and  left  unoccupied  for  the  season, 
simply  keeping  down  the  weeds.  Or  it  may  be  planted  with 
potatoes  or  sown  with  turnips  or  mangels,  or  otherwise 
cropped  and  kept  clean.  All  kinds  of  crudities  in  it  would 
thus  be  destroyed  and  the  texture  be  greatly  ameliorated. 
Considering  that  there  will  be  such  a  slender  chance  of  its 
being  broken  up  again  and  worked  otherwise  than  very  par- 
tially after  the  lawn  is  made  and  the  trees  and  shrubs  planted, 
a  year's  preparation  of  this  sort  is  only  a  matter  of  the  most 
ordinary  policy  and  should  not,  on  any  but  the  most  impera- 
tive accounts,  be  lost. 

There  is  one  tribe,  of  which  the  rhododendron  is  the  rep- 
resentative, that  wants  a  little  peculiar  attention  as  to  soil. 
They  will,  it  is  true,  live  in  any  ordinary  garden  soil,  espe- 
cially if  it  be  light.  But  they  attain  their  richest  state  when 
the  earth  in  which  they  are  grown  is  in  great  part  made  up 
of  fibrous  peat.     To  have  them  in  their  highest  perfection, 


272  Landscape   Gardening 

then,  they  should  be  grown  principally  in  masses,  so  that 
proper  soil  can  be  supplied  to  them,  and  should  be  furnished 
with  about  one-third  or  one-half  of  good  peat  or  leaf  mold, 
in  a  rather  shady  situation. 

Where  proper  peat  cannot  be  procured  for  rhododendrons, 
leaf  mold  will  be  the  best  substitute  for  it.  And  even  if 
this  should  not  be  attainable,  turfy  loam,  taken  from  an  old 
pasture,  may  suffice,  or  well-rotted  stable  manure  may  be 
freely  used  in  conjunction  with  common  soil.  Any  earth 
that  is  naturally  of  a  chalky  kind  or  that  contains  much  lime 
will  be  particularly  unfavorable  to  rhododendrons. 

6.  Circumventing  the  Gardener.  —  One  of  the  greatest 
practical  difficulties  with  which  the  artist  in  landscape  has 
to  contend  is  dealing  with  the  picturesque.  Smoothness  and 
regularity  of  treatment  are  so  thoroughly  what  an  ordinary 
gardener  is  accustomed  to,  that  it  requires  no  small  effort  to 
enlighten  him  as  to  the  mode  of  achieving  anything  really 
beautiful  in  the  way  of  curved  Hues  and  undulations.  But 
when  ruggedness  and  an  appearance  of  rude  naturalness  are 
sought  it  is  indeed  hard  to  obtain  a  practical  operator.  In 
this  case,  soil  has  often  to  be  thrown  down  in  rough  heaps 
without  smoothing,  leveling,  or  exhibiting  the  marks  of 
any  tool;  masses  of  soil  or  rock  have  to  be  wrenched  away 
fr«m  the  face  of  a  bank;  stones  or  roots  have  to  be  thrown 
down  as  irregularly  and  wildly  as  possible;  tufts  of  rugged 
vegetation  or  scrambling  shrubs  must  be  left  where  these 
exist;  all  roundness  or  curvatures  have  to  be  avoided;  and 
everything  that  is  angular  and  broken  striven  after.  Rocks 
when  they  are  inserted  require  to  be  blended  with  the  ground 
in  the  neighborhood  by  means  of  a  few  scattered  groups  or 
single  stones,  only  partially  filling  up  the  interstices  among 
them  with  soil  so  as  to  preserve  a  rugged  surface  and  not 
providing  for  covering  the  stones  too  much. 


Practical   Directions  273 

7.  Present  vs.  Future  Effects.  —  Planting  may  be  under- 
taken with  reference  solely  to  the  ultimate  effects  it  will 
produce,  or  it  can  be  made  to  embrace  a  more  immediate  and 
present  result.  The  former  plan  is  of  course  somewhat  the 
easiest  as  far  as  labor  is  concerned,  and  is  the  least  expensive 
when  the  plants  have  to  be  bought.  But  a  garden  that  is 
planted  only  with  the  smallest  nursery  things  will  be  exceed- 
ingly tame  and  uninteresting  for  several  years,  and  it  will 
require  the  planter  to  have  a  very  good  knowledge  of  each 
individual  variety  with  respect  to  its  natural  or  usual  height 
and  habit  to  make  the  final  picture  at  all  a  successful  one. 

In  many  neighborhoods  where  large  areas  have  been 
planted  for  public  or  prospective  ends,  the  yearly  thinnings 
from  such  plantations  will  be  obtainable  on  comparatively 
moderate  terms,  and  these  will  be  very  useful  in  giving  an 
appearance  of  age  and  variety  to  a  garden.  As  the  private 
gardens  are  generally  in  need  of  thinning,  a  planter  may 
sometimes  pick  up  a  number  of  effective  specimens  among 
his  friends  or  in  the  way  of  exchange  for  other  things.  And 
when  these  resources  fail  or  money  is  not  so  much  consid- 
ered most  good  nurserymen  now  grow  plants  in  borders, 
and  transplant  them  occasionally  for  the  express  purpose  of 
supplying  larger  specimens  that  are  well  rooted  and  can  be 
safely  removed  with  balls  of  earth  to  diversify  and  give  an 
air  of  greater  finish  to  newly  formed  gardens.  Such  trees 
and  shrubs  can  be  bought  very  reasonably  in  large  quanti- 
ties, and  their  free  use  is  always  to  be  recommended. 

Notwithstanding  the  extreme  desirableness  of  attending  to 
the  present  appearance  of  plantations,  and  putting  in  a  few 
plants  at  intervals  to  make  an  immediate  show  and  to  banish 
the  monotonous  dulness  unavoidable  where  only  the  youngest 
class  is  employed,  the  great  aim  of  the  planter  should  be  for 
future  effect,  and  where  the  bulk  of  the  plants  are  healthy 


274  Landscape   Gardening 

and  likely  to  do  what  is  ultimately  expected  of  them,  their 
temporary  mean  or  meager  aspect  may  be  entirely  disre- 
garded. And  although  the  peculiar  developments  which 
result  from  accident  may  sometimes  yield  combinations 
superior  to  any  that  the  most  cultivated  art  could  produce 
—  such  is  the  adaptive  and  plastic  power  of  nature  —  yet 
as  such  fortuitous  groups  can  never  be  calculated  upon  and 
may  never  arise,  it  is  right  to  act  as  if  all  depended  on  the 
provisions  of  art  and  place  each  plant  where  from  its  known 
constitution  it  is  most  likely  to  yield  the  wished-for  effect 
whether  of  outline,  harmony,  or  contrast. 

8.  Planting  Out.  —  Having  got  the  ground  into  a  proper 
condition  for  planting,  and  remembering  that  the  place 
should  assume  as  good  an  appearance  as  possible  both 
immediately  and  prospectively,  the  next  consideration  will 
be  as  to  the  time  and  manner  of  effecting  this  operation. 
The  first  of  these  will  relate  to  the  season  and  the  weather 
alone.     The  other  is  much  more  comprehensive. 

Whatever  may  be  said  of  plants  bearing  to  be  removed  at 
almost  any  season  of  the  year,  if  a  due  regard  be  paid  to 
their  nature  and  wants,  it  is  pretty  certain  that  the  fall  of 
the  year,  when  the  leaves  of  deciduous  plants  are  just  shed, 
is  the  most  appropriate  period  for  transplanting  them,  where 
choice  is  allowed;  while  evergreens  will  probably  be  less 
injured  by  being  planted  about  a  month  earlier.  Into  the 
reasons  for  this  view  it  would  be  needless  here  to  enter,  as 
both  theory  and  experience  confirm  it.  But  planting  may 
be  conducted  throughout  the  whole  of  the  winter  in  open 
weather,  and  until  the  buds  develop  pretty  vigorously,  or 
the  beginning  of  April.  For  deciduous  plants,  however,  the 
earlier  they  can  be  got  in  the  less  they  will  suffer  in  the 
following  summer;  and  evergreens,  if  unplanted  at  the  time 
of  the  occurrence  of  the  first  sharp  winter  frosts,  should  be 


Practical    Directions  275 

kept  back  until  about  the  earliest  showers  in  April,  other- 
wise the  harsh  and  drying  winds  of  March  will  severely 
endanger  them. 

Calm,  dull,  moist  weather  is  almost  of  more  consequence 
in  planting  than  the  time  of  year.  If  the  sun  be  shining 
brightly,  or  there  is  any  wind  stirring,  or  the  ground  or  the 
atmosphere  be  very  dry,  no  kind  of  planting  should  be  pro- 
ceeded with.  A  plant  out  of  the  ground,  with  its  roots 
exposed  to  drying  influences,  is  in  as  unnatural  and  perilous 
a  position  as  a  fish  out  of  water.  Both  may  survive;  but 
they  have  a  great  struggle  to  get  over  it  and  their  future 
health  is  for  some  time  enfeebled.  No  weather  is  better  for 
planting  than  the  damp  and  foggy  period  so  peculiar  to 
November  in  England. 

Not  only  should  planting  be  done  on  a  cloudy  and 
moist  day,  but  it  must  be  done  rapidly,  so  as  to  keep  the 
plants  out  of  the  ground  as  short  a  time  as  possible,  and  the 
roots  should  be  preserved  and  spread  out  with  the  utmost 
care.  A  plant  is  mainly  dependent  on  its  roots  for  existence 
and  support,  and  if  these  are  much  mutilated  in  taking 
it  from  the  ground,  or  crushed,  crippled,  and  huddled  up 
together  at  the  time  of  its  replanting,  its  chances  of  life  and 
vigor  will  be  proportionately  weakened.  All  the  roots  have 
their  share  of  branches  and  foliage  to  supply;  and  when  the 
former  are  much  reduced  in  taking  them  up,  or  rendered 
inoperative  by  careless  planting,  the  balance  between  the 
two  is  lost  and  great  weakness  or  death  results.  The  root 
fibers,  therefore,  should  be  strictly  preserved  as  far  as  pos- 
sible and  laid  out  in  their  natural  position  when  replanted, 
covering  the  whole  with  light  and  fine  soil. 

In  transplanting  shrubs  or  trees  of  any  unusual  size,  par- 
ticularly evergreens,  or  even  in  moving  smaller  plants  of  the 
latter  from  one  part  of  a  place  to  another  or  from  a  position 


276  Landscape    Gardening 

which  admits  of  their  being  accompanied  with  balls  of  earth 
about  the  roots,  these  should  always  be  kept.  The  ends  of 
the  roots  must  not  be  cut  off  close  to  the  ball,  but  should  be 
carefully  taken  out  with  a  fork  and  the  outside  of  the  ball 
be  left  loose  and  guarded  against  every  kind  of  compression. 
Where  the  roots  become  bruised  or  injured,  they  must  be 
pruned  and  the  jagged  ends  made  smooth.  The  soil  should 
be  shaken  very  lightly  among  them  and  pressed  under  the 
ball  by  means  of  a  blunt  stick  that  no  cavities  may  be  left 
there.  If  the  weather  be  ordinarily  moist  and  the  period 
be  late  autumn  no  watering  of  any  kind  will  be  necessary. 
But  a  thorough  soaking  with  water  will  sometimes  be  useful 
in  spring  planting,  and  a  subsequent  mulching  with  grass 
mowings,  manure,  or  litter  will  generally  be  found  of  service 
in  dry  summers. 

It  is  always  safest  to  plant  pretty  thickly,  for  where  the 
climate  or  the  prevailing  winds  are  not  so  severe  as  to  demand 
this  precaution,  the  better  kinds  of  plants  invariably  grow 
stronger  and  faster  for  having  a  little  shelter,  provided  this 
does  not  rob  them  of  light  and  air  or  produce  deformity, 
and  is  not  continued  too  long.  All  the  best  plants  and  the 
larger  specimens  should,  however,  first  be  put  in  a  plan- 
tation, the  intermediate  parts  being  made  up  of  commoner 
things  and  such  as  can  easily  be  taken  or  cut  out  the  moment 
they  begin  to  do  harm.  The  rule  among  modern  park  plant- 
ers is,  "plant  thick,  thin  quick,"  —  and  it  is  a  good  rule. 

If  large  plants  be  used  to  break  the  outline  of  a  young 
plantation,  they  should  not  be  left  to  stand  alone  and  unsup- 
ported, but  be  at  least  partially  and  irregularly  surrounded 
with  middle-sized  plants  of  different  heights,  to  relieve  their 
solitariness  and  the  abruptness  of  outline,  and  also  to  shel- 
ter them  a  little  from  the  action  of  winds  and  shade  their 
roots  somewhat  from  the  drying  influences  of  sun  and  air. 


Practical    Directions  277 

Single  specimens  of  tall  trees  standing  aniidst  a  tribe  of  very 
much  smaller  ones  look  extremely  naked  and  do  not  blend 
at  all  beautifully  or  softly  with  the  rest.  Nor  would  the 
hardness  of  their  appearance  be  mitigated  for  several  years. 

No  plant  will  ever  answer  the  expectations  of  the  cultivator 
if  its  roots  be  buried  too  deeply  at  the  time  of  planting  or 
afterwards.  Such  a  practice  would  shut  them  out  from  air 
and  speedily  tell  upon  the  health,  most  probably  killing  the 
plant  ultimately.  The  crown  of  the  root  ought  not  to  be 
placed  more  than  two  or  three  inches  below  the  surface  of 
the  ground.  As  the  soil  settles  the  plant  will  then  at  length 
have  the  collar  or  crown  of  its  roots  just  level  with  the  ground, 
and  this  is  the  most  natural  and  healthy  condition. 

That  plants  in  masses  should  not  be  placed  in  any  kind  of 
rows,  but  be  dotted  about  as  irregularly  as  possible  and  at 
various  distances  from  each  other  and  from  the  front  or  back 
of  the  plantation,  would  seem  quite  a  trite  remark,  were  it 
not  a  rule  that  is  seldom  observed  in  small  gardens.  Nothing 
is  more  common  than  to  see  the  plants  put  in  either  straight 
lines  or  rows  following  the  outline  of  the  mass,  at  one  meas- 
ured distance  apart,  and  with  two  plants  of  the  same  kind 
occupying  precisely  the  same  position  in  the  bed  on  opposite 
sides  of  the  garden,  thus  making  the  arrangement  of  a  group 
a  system  of  pairs,  rather  than  the  most  inartificial  and  broken 
thing  imaginable.  Even  in  some  great  public  and  national 
works  the  trees  are  planted  in  rows  although  the  outlines  of 
the  plantations  in  which  they  occur  are  decidedly  irregular. 

All  this,  however,  unless  where  studied  lines  or  avenues 
are  contemplated,  is  far  too  artificial  for  the  natural  style 
of  gardening,  which  is  essentially  free,  varied,  and  approxi- 
mating to  nature.  And  since  no  such  things  as  lines  of 
plants,  symmetrical  correspondence  of  sorts  in  particular 
parts,   or  anything  approaching  to  regularity  of  distance 


278  Landscape   Gardening 

between  the  plants  is  to  be  found  in  natural  groups,  neither 
should  any  of  these  things  exist  in  irregular  garden  masses. 
It  is  observable  in  nature,  indeed,  that  several  stems  some- 
times spring  out  from  nearly  the  same  spot,  and  by  the  growth 
of  the  branches  get  forced  away  from  each  other  in  various 
oblique  directions,  thus  making  a  very  picturesque  and  pleas- 
ing group.  Something  of  the  same  kind  might  often  be 
attempted  with  advantage  in  gardens  or  large  plantations 
with  both  shrubs  and  trees,  and  would  get  rid  of  the  monot- 
ony of  a  succession  of  upright  and  shapely  specimens  stand- 
ing free  from  every  species  of  encumbrance.  For  ordinary 
plants,  a  distance  of  from  three  to  six  feet,  according  to  the 
size  of  the  plants,  will  be  most  proper.  Very  small  shrubs 
may  even  be  placed  as  near  as  two  feet,  but  three  or  four 
feet  will  more  generally  be  right. 

9.  Securing  Stock. — In  the  estabhshment  of  large  estates, 
particularly  when  the  grounds  are  to  be  under  the  constant 
care  of  an  experienced  arboriculturist,  it  is  usually  wise  to 
have  a  nursery  on  the  place.  While  it  will  not  supply  all 
the  materials  needed,  and  while  it  will  not  usually  prove  to 
be  any  great  economy,  it  will  nevertheless  be  a  great  con- 
venience. Trees  and  shrubs  may  be  had  of  the  varieties 
desired,  and,  what  is  more  important,  they  v/ill  be  on  hand 
when  wanted  and  will  not  have  to  undergo  the  risk  and 
exposure  of  long  shipments.  For  most  private  places,  how- 
ever, it  will  be  best  to  secure  plants  through  the  regular  com- 
mercial nurseries.  Where  trees,  shrubs  and  herbaceous  plants 
are  to  be  used  in  considerable  quantities  they  can  always  be 
had  at  reasonable  prices. 

The  main  point  to  be  considered  in  securing  nursery  stock 
from  dealers  is  to  get  young,  thrifty,  clean,  well-grown  stock 
free  from  disease.  Old  trees  which  have  been  kept  for  years 
in  the  nursery  rows  are  almost  certain  to  be  the  culls  left 


Practical    Directions  279 

after  many  selections.  The  only  important  exception  to  this 
general  rule  is  to  be  made  for  those  fine  large  trees  especially 
grown  by  certain  nurserymen  who  supply  them,  at  corre- 
spondingly high  pricies,  for  planters  desiring  immediate 
effects.  Freedom  from  insects  and  disease  should  be  insured 
by  the  state  inspector's  certificate;  but  unfortunately  it  is  not 
always  a  final  test.  Personal  inspection  by  the  buyer  should 
be  added  to  official  inspection  in  all  cases. 

It  is  not  important,  as  has  often  been  claimed,  that  nursery 
trees  should  be  grown  in  the  immediate  locality  where  they 
are  to  be  used.  There  are  certain  practical  advantages  in 
patronizing  a  nearby  nursery,  the  most  important  being  the 
decreased  risk  of  delay  and  damage  in  shipment.  Aside 
from  these  questions  of  convenience  the  buyer  may  fairly 
choose  that  nursery  which  offers  the  best  plants  at  the  lowest 
prices,  —  always  having  first  care  for  the  quahty  of  the 
stock  and  second  for  price. 

When  considerable  quantities  of  nursery  stock  are  required 
to  plant  a  place  it  will  be  found  an  excellent  plan  to  send 
duplicate  lists  of  the  requirements  to  several  nurseries,  asking 
for  itemized  bids.  Such  bids  will  enable  the  buyer  to  place 
his  order  to  best  advantage;  and  often  he  will  find  it  expedient 
to  order  a  part  of  the  bill  from  one  nursery  and  a  part  from 
another.  When  considerable  amounts  of  stock  of  a  single 
size  and  variety  are  wanted  nurserymen  will  often  be  glad 
to  send  samples  with  the  bids,  in  order  that  the  buyer  may 
know  exactly  what  he  is  to  get. 

Large  plants  taken  from  nursery  rows  never  become  prop- 
erly furnished,  but  always  retain  their  spindly,  bare,  and 
pinched-up  appearance.  Where  larger  things  are  wanted, 
only  such  as  have  been  grown  separately  in  borders  or  as 
specimens  should  be  used.  None  but  the  smaller  plants,  if 
obtained  from  rows  in  a  nursery,  will  be  at  all  satisfactory. 


28o  Landscape  Gardening 

And  it  is  small  plants  which,  if  well  attended  to,  constantly 
produce  the  most  healthy  and  perfect  specimens.  While, 
therefore,  a  few  larger  things  may  be  admitted  into  a  garden 
for  variety,  the  staple  of  its  furniture  should  be  made  up  of 
lower  stuff.  Three  to  four  feet  in  height  is  a  good  size  for 
forest  and  ornamental  trees  and  about  two  feet  for  the 
majority  of  shrubs.  Evergreens  answer  better  when  planted 
only  about  nine  inches  or  a  foot  high,  if  they  be  afterwards 
kept  free  from  weeds  and  are  not  allowed  to  be  smothered 
by  other  plants. 

In  selecting  plants  for  furnishing  a  garden,  character  and 
ornament  should  invariably  be  the  prime  considerations. 
Mere  novelty  ought  to  have  little  or  no  weight.  Besides  the 
objects  to  be  aimed  at  in  planting  which  have  been  mentioned 
in  previous  pages,  however,  it  may  be  well  to  take  into 
account  the  appearance  of  deciduous  trees  and  shrubs  in 
winter,  with  respect  to  their  general  form,  or  the  color  of 
their  shoots  and  buds,  and  also  with  reference  to  their  beauty 
when  covered  with  snow  and  frost.  Such  as  have  slender  or 
drooping  branches  are  particularly  eligible  on  the  latter 
account  and  none  are  more  so  than  the  weeping  birch.  For 
the  color  of  their  shoots  and  buds,  birches,  willows,  alders, 
the  golden  ash,  dogwood,  etc.,  are  most  noticeable. 

To  relieve  the  excessive  bareness  of  young  plantations  in 
pleasure  grounds,  dahlias,  hollyhocks,  and  many  other  her- 
baceous species,  if  copiously  introduced,  have  been  found 
singularly  useful.  The  leaves  of  newly  planted  shrubs  sel- 
dom develop  fully  for  the  first  year  or  two,  and  much  may 
therefore  be  done  to  make  the  clumps  look  fuller  by  means 
of  the  plants  just  named  without  doing  any  injury  to  the 
more  permanent  occupants  of  the  ground. 

10.  Staking  Trees.— Newly  planted  trees  and  large  shrubs 
will  sometimes  require  staking  or  supporting,  as,  if  they  play 


Practical  Directions 


2«I 


about  in  the  ground  by  the  action  of  winds,  the  roots  will  be 
broken  and  strained,  and  a  hole  for  the  collection  of  water 
be  formed,  which  will  in  the  course  of  time  rot  the  roots. 
Evergreens  are  particularly  liable  to  suffer  and  even  die  from 
this  cause.  They  present  a  greater  surface  to  the  action  of 
the  winter  gales.  And  all  plants  that  are  disproportionately 
heavy  in  the  head  are  most  likely  to  need  staking. 

But  any  kind  of  staking  is  sure  to  be  more  or  less  unsightly, 
and  whatever  means  can  be  devised  for  dispensing  with  it  will 
be  a  decided  boon.     Something  may  certainly  be  done  by 


Figs.  76  and  77.    Setting  a  Tree  to  Stay. 


planting  things  of  a  rather  lower  growth  around  one  that 
is  apt  to  be  moved  about  by  winds.  These  will  soften  the 
force  of  the  attacks  and  make  the  plant  more  proof  against 
them.  For  large  trees,  too,  that  are  planted  with  balls  of 
earth,  and  have  tolerably  strong  roots,  a  triangular  or  square 
frame  made  of  bars  of  wood  laid  across  the  ball  of  the  plant, 
and  nailed  to  stout  posts  driven  firmly  into  the  ground  at 
the  corners,  will  be  safer  than  any  upright  stakes.  (See  figs. 
76  and  77,  the  latter  being  the  ground  plan.)  Strong  ropes 
fastened  to  the  upper  part  of  the  stem  of  a  newly  planted 
tree,  and  tied  in  several  directions  to  other  trees  or  fixed 
objects  (fig.  78),  putting  some  hay  or  matting  around  the 


2«2 


Landscape  Gardening 


tree  to  prevent  it  from  being  cut  by  the  ropes,  may  occa- 
sionally be  successful.  Planting  with  good  balls  of  soil  or  a 
little  more  deeply  than  usual  will  help  further  to  stay  large 
specimens  and  to  make  them  able  to  dispense  with  extra 
support. 

Where  neither  of  these  plans  is  applicable,  or  would  not  be 
effectual,  stakes  themselves  must  be  employed.  If  the  wind 
blows  most  roughly  from  any  particular  quarter,  the  principal 


Fig.  78.    Staking  a  Tree. 


Fig.  79.    Staking  a  Large  Tree. 


stake  should  be  placed  on  that  side  that  the  plant  may  blow 
away  from  the  stake  and  not  upon  it.  Some  hay,  matting, 
or  other  soft  substance  should  be  put  between  the  plant  and 
the  stake,  and  also  around  the  plant  where  the  cord  embraces 
it.  More  than  one  or  even  two  stakes  (fig.  79)  will  some- 
times be  requisite  for  very  strong  or  very  heavy  plants.  But 
if  the  stakes  are  driven  down  very  deeply,  they  need  not 
stand  more  than  one,  two,  or  three  feet  above  the  ground, 
which  will  render  them  less  objectionable.  If  only  one  stake 
be  employed,  it  may  by  chance  be  able  to  do  its  work  if 


* 

^^ 

'^^^^;  ^:. 

i'-^t^^m^ 

fe     Mitc:^l^iS^:^We* 

^^^^^HKit^^ 

^  '^'0M 

H^^S^^ 

^^J 

p^^ 

Practical    Directions  283 

placed  behind  the  plant,  so  as  not  to  be  seen  from  the  walk, 
and  this  is  everywhere  desirable,  when  it  does  not  diminish 
the  power  of  support.  No  stake  should  ever  be  dispropor- 
tionately thick  or  it  will  appear  clumsy.  When  one  end  is 
thicker  than  the  other,  the  thick  end  must  be  inserted  in  the 
ground.  And  it  ought  to  be  remembered,  too,  that  the 
higher  any  stake  stands  out  of  the  ground,  the  greater  will 
be  the  power  of  leverage  upon  it,  and  the  deeper  it  should 
descend  into  the  earth. 

In  applying  stakes  to  plants,  the  time  when  their  roots  are 
bare  and  before  they  are  covered  in  with  soil  should  be 
chosen  for  placing  the  stake  in  its  right  position,  that  it  may 
not  injure  any  of  the  roots.  If  driven  down  at  random  after 
the  roots  are  all  buried,  it  will  most  probably  damage  or 
sever  some  of  the  more  valuable  of  them.  The  nearer  it 
can  be  placed  to  the  stem  of  the  plant,  consistently  ^with 
safety,  the  more  power  it  will  possess,  and  the  less  distinctly 
will  it  be  visible.  The  tree  should  in  all  cases  be  fastened 
as  firmly  as  possible  to  the  stake,  always  providing  that  it 
has  room  to  expand  itself  for  two  or  three  years. 

II.  Sodding  Lawns.  —  Where  good  turf  can  be  had  with- 
out much  trouble  or  expense,  it  will  be  more  immediately 
beautiful  and  satisfying  to  sod  a  lawn  than  to  sow  it  down 
with  fresh  seeds.  And  even  if  it  be  too  serious  an  item  under 
any  circumstances,  the  edgings  of  walks  and  the  outlines  of 
beds  should  be  everywhere  defined  by  a  strip  of  old  turf  at 
least  a  foot  in  width.  This  will  prevent  the  seeds  from  being 
scattered  on  the  walks  or  borders,  and  make  the  edging 
firmer  and  less  ragged  for  several  years.  Indeed,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  make  a  sound  and  satisfactory  edging,  except  with 
old  turf. 

Sods  should  always  be  chosen  from  an  old  pasture,  and  one 
where  sheep  have  been  accustomed  to  graze  will  be  best. 


284  Landscape  Gardening 

The  autumn  months  offer  decidedly  the  fittest  season  for 
laying  them  down,  as  they  will  then  at  once  take  hod  of  the 
ground,  without  the  danger  of  their  separating  and  curling 
up  at  the  edges  during  the  succeeding  summer.  But  any 
mild  weather  throughout  the  winter  or  a  showery  time  up 
to  a  late  period  in  the  spring  may  be  selected  for  the  opera- 
tion, if  more  convenient.  The  soil  should  always  be  well 
stirred  as  the  sods  are  laid,  and  if  there  is  any  chance  of  their 
suffering  from  drought  or  if  the  grass  is  not  sufl&ciently  fine, 
a  little  light  soil  mixed  with  lime  may  be  strewn  over  them 
after  they  are  laid,  and  swept  into  their  interstices  with  a 
scrubby  broom.  A  few  of  the  finer  grass  seeds  may  be  added, 
if  it  be  in  spring.  Sods  ought  always  to  be  laid  lengthwise 
up  and  down  steep  slopes  or  at  right  angles  with  a  line  of 
walk  as  the  edgings  will  then  remain  firmer,  and  may  be  cut 
truer. 

12.  Seeding  Lawns. —  For  sowing  grass  seeds  the  ground 
should  be  lightly  dug  over  about  the  first  week  in  April 
or  the  first  of  September,  and  the  seeds  sown  immediately 
after.  It  will  be  advisable  to  scatter  them  rather  thickly, 
then  tread  and  rake  them  well  in  and  give  the  ground  a 
thorough  rolling.  Care  must  be  exercised  to  make  up  the 
ground  by  the  edgings  already  laid  to  the  level  of  the  top 
of  those  edgings,  in  order  that,  when  the  young  grass  springs 
up,  all  may  be  on  the  same  level  and  there  may  not  be  a 
break  or  dip  between  the  old  and  the  new.  After  the  grass 
has  vegetated,  it  will  simply  require  to  be  kept  free  from 
weeds  until  it  is  strong  enough  to  be  mown.  A  dry  day  in 
a  showery  season  will  of  course  be  best  for  sowing  grass,  as 
it  is  for  all  other  seeds.  And  it  ought  not  to  be  forgotten 
that,  on  the  evenness  with  which  the  ground  is  dug,  leveled, 
and  raked,  will  hereafter  depend  the  beauty  and  smoothness 
of  the  lawn. 


Practical   Directions  285 

In  sowing  small  lawns  it  will  be  best  to  buy  a  so-called 
lawn  mixture  from  some  thoroughly  reliable  nurseryman. 
In  other  cases  it  is  well  to  stick  pretty  close  to  blue  grass  or 
June  grass,  Rhode  Island  bent  grass,  meadow  fescue,  and 
white  clover. 

13.  Special  Situations.  —  Certain  situations  are  so  unfa- 
vorable to  some  kinds  of  vegetation  that  they  are  only  capable 
of  bringing  a  few  plants  to  perfection.  And  as  it  is  generally 
better  to  grow  a  few  things  well  than  to  have  a  more  ample 
collection  of  indifferently  cultivated  plants,  the  knowledge 
of  what  will  flourish  in  a  given  district  will  be  of  great  use  to 
guide  the  planter  in  his  selection.  While  I  cannot  pretend, 
then,  to  furnish  extended  lists,  which  would  demand  a  fami- 
liar local  acquaintance  with  the  entire  country,  it  may  per- 
haps be  suggestive  at  least  of  what  can  be  done,  if  I  advert 
to  a  few  common  kinds  of  climatic  peculiarities  and  mention 
some  of  the  most  ornamental  plants  that  are  calculated  to 
suit  them. 

Gardens  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  sea  are  much  afflicted 
with  gales  which  are  of  such  violence  and  carry  such  a  quan- 
tity of  saline  matter  with  them  that  the  leaves  and  young 
shoots  of  some  plants  are  frequently  destroyed.  Dense  plant- 
ing on  ground  that  has  been  perfectly  drained  and  prepared 
will  be  some  slight  preservative  against  such  winds;  and  it 
will  be  useful  to  gather  the  plants  together  in  masses  to  a 
greater  extent  than  would  otherwise  be  required,  that  they 
may  help  to  sustain  and  shelter  one  another.  Single  plants, 
or  thin  strips  of  them,  are  always  most  scourged  and  cut  to 
pieces  by  such  gales.  Still  there  are  some  plants  which  will 
endure  a  prodigious  amount  of  blowing  without  material 
damage.  And  of  these  the  sycamore  maple  and  other 
maples,  some  elms  (especially  the  Wych  elm),  birches,  if 
planted  young;  beech,  when  likewise  planted  in  a  small  state; 


286  Landscape  Gardening 

the  common  alder,  the  mountain  ash,  and  several  services; 
and  the  Scotch  fir,  Austrian  pine,  Pinus  laricio,  montana,  and 
pinaster,  if  a  little  sheltered,  will  make  excellent  trees  for  the 
seaside.  Poplars  and  willows  will  be  valuable  for  temporary 
shelter,  as  they  will  grow  rapidly  and  tall,  and  thus  protect 
the  others  till  they  become  strong,  after  which  they  should 
by  degrees  be  almost  entirely  weeded  out. 

Among  dwarf  seaside  plants,  the  dogwoods,  the  Ribes  san- 
guineum  and  aureum  and  grossulariafoliuni,  the  deciduous 
viburnums,  the  symphorias,  the  elders,  the  tamarisk,  some 
of  the  spiraeas,  particularly  salkifolia,  the  common  fly  honey- 
suckle, and  the  berberries  are  particularly  hardy  for  decidu- 
ous shrubs;  while  all  the  hollies  are  valuable  as  evergreens, 
and  the  common  rhododendrons  and  heaths  (when  planted 
young),  evergreen  berberries,  will,  with  privet,  which  is 
almost  evergreen,  be  useful  in  rendering  a  seashore  garden 
green  and  lively  during  winter.  Of  these,  the  tamarisk,  the 
elder,  and  the  common  furze  will  flourish  on  the  very  margin 
of  the  sea  and  in  the  poorest  sandbanks. 

For  hills  that  are  more  inland  where  there  is  a  scanty  soil 
and  great  exposure  with  steep  or  precipitous  faces  exhibiting 
little  beyond  the  bare  rock  in  parts,  birches,  pines,  larches, 
the  common  ash,  the  common  oaks,  mountain  ash  and  ser- 
vices, with  heaths,  rhododendrons  if  there  be  a  little  shade, 
common  hollies,  thorns,  and  clematis  for  enriching  some  of 
the  jutting  masses  of  rock,  vacciniums,  mountain  snowberry, 
savin,  etc.,  will  make  an  excellent  clothing  of  either  a  dense 
or  a  partial  kind.  Plants  should  be  put  in  when  quite  small 
in  such  elevated  tracts. 

Of  plants  that  will  thrive  in  marshy  places  or  by  the  sides 
of  water  courses,  willows  and  alders  will  be  the  most  signifi- 
cant, and  the  latter  are  decidedly  ornamental.  The  decidu- 
ous cypress,  in  sheltered  spots,  is  quite  as  suitable,  and  even 


Practical    Directions  287 

more  elegant.  Where  there  is  a  small  raised  bank,  however, 
by  the  margin  of  a  stream,  oaks,  beeches,  sycamores,  weeping 
birches,  and  thorns  will  form  good  accompaniments,  though 
almost  any  other  tree  will  grow  in  such  a  position. 

Within  the  smoky  precincts  of  large  towns,  the  accumula- 
tion of  soot  on  the  leaves  of  plants  keeps  them  sickly  and, 
in  conjunction  with  other  influences,  actually  destroys  many 
of  them.  Without  doubting  the  potency  of  town  gases  or 
more  substantial  deposits,  I  am  inclined  to  attribute  some  of 
the  bad  health  common  in  town  plants  to  the  miserable  earth 
in  which  they  are  often  grown,  and  believe  that  were  the  soil 
renewed  and  freshened  occasionally  by  additional  deposits, 
the  ground  being  duly  drained  and  prepared  in  the  first 
instance,  many  of  our  public  gardens  in  towns  would  present 
a  different  aspect. 

Some  plants,  however,  unquestionably  manage  to  endure 
the  air  of  large  towns  better  than  others.  Elms,  planes, 
beeches,  birches,  poplars,  horse  chestnuts,  mountain  ash, 
lilacs,  privet,  Japanese  quince  are  a  few  of  these.  Planes 
may  be  particularly  mentioned  as  enduring  the  very  worst 
of  town  atmospheres  in  the  heart  of  London,  and  growing  as 
healthily  there  as  if  they  were  in  the  open  country.  To 
enumerate  more  would  demand  an  amount  of  space  which 
the  design  of  the  book  will  not  justify  me  in  affording.  Any 
one  accustomed  to  walk  through  extensive  towns  might  soon, 
by  a  Httle  observation,  extend  and  perfect  this  list,  and  with 
an  eye  also  to  their  own  locality.  The  principal  aim  in  this 
and  all  other  matters  has  chiefly  been  to  put  amateurs  on  the 
right  track,  and  not  to  exhaust  the  subject  which  is  too  ample 
to  be  fully  discussed  in  so  short  an  essay, 

14.  Program  of  Work. —  It  may  be  well  just  to  indicate, 
cursorily,  the  order  in  which  the  different  operations  involved 
in  laying  out  a  garden  should  be  performed,  as  some  incon- 


Landscape  Gardening 


venience  and  extra  work  might  be  occasioned  by  having  any 
of  them  done  much  out  of  the  proper  routine. 

The  first  thing  to  be  set  about  —  whether  the  place  be 
large  or  small  —  is  to  make  a  definite  plan  of  proposed  oper- 
ations on  a  sufficiently  enlarged  scale.  This  should  never  be 
omitted  since  the  proportions  of  the  various  parts  can  be 
judged  of  better  on  a  plane  surface,  such  as  that  of  paper, 
and  greater  consistency  and  harmony  can  be  attained.  It 
will  be  advisable,  also,  to  set  out  the  walks,  plantations,  beds, 
etc.,  from  this  plan,  by  actual  measurement,  and  not  simply 
by  the  eye,  to  secure  precisely  the  same  easiness  of  lines  and 
adjustment  of  parts  as  in  the  plan,  only  modifying  any  of 
these  afterwards  in  such  ways  as  an  examination  of  the  whole 
from  the  many  different  points  of  view  may  render  necessary. 

When  the  plan  is  made  and  the  position  for  the  house 
fixed  upon,  the  soil  on  the  spot  which  the  house  will  cover, 
and  for  at  least  six  or  eight  yards  in  width  all  around  it, 
should  be  stripped  off,  and  partly  taken  away  for  the  planta- 
tions or  kitchen  garden,  partly  thrown  up  in  a  ridge  around 
the  stripped  area  to  be  used  after  the  house  is  completed  in 
covering  such  portion  of  the  ground  as  may  ultimately  be 
converted  into  garden.  Space  for  the  builders  to  work  and 
trample  upon  will  thus  be  left,  and  there  will  also  be  room 
for  depositing  the  clay  or  rubbish  from  the  foundations. 
Beyond  what  will  finally  be  wanted  round  the  house  itself, 
the  material  from  the  foundations  should,  however,  be  at 
once  taken  where  it  will  be  required,  which  will  save  the 
trouble  of  moving  it  twice. 

To  prevent  the  workmen  employed  in  building  the  house 
and  those  engaged  in  carting  materials  to  it  from  making  foot- 
paths or  roads  over  all  parts  of  the  ground,  it  will  be  prudent 
as  soon  as  the  foundations  for  the  house  are  excavated  to 
cut  out  the  principal  approach,  drive,  or  walk,  and  fill  it  with 


Practical  Directions  289 

rough  stone  or  gravel  fit  for  carting  and  walking  upon,  so 
as  to  confine  every  one  as  much  as  possible  to  the  use  of  this. 

Fences  of  all  kinds  will  next  engage  attention.  It  will 
naturally  be  concluded  that  one  of  the  first  things  to  do  is  to 
make  the  boundary  fences  perfect,  due  regard  being  had  to 
the  chosen  points  of  entrance.  The  inner  fences,  such  as  that 
round  the  pleasure  grounds,  may  afterwards  be  fLxed.  And 
where  kitchen  garden  or  other  walls  have  to  be  erected,  they 
should  be  begun  in  good  time,  that  the  builder's  workmen 
may  be  got  out  of  the  way  before  it  be  necessary  to  com- 
mence on  the  ground  work.  In  short,  no  trenching  or  level- 
ing should  be  attempted  in  any  part  until  the  masons,  brick- 
layers, or  other  artisans  have  fairly  completed  their  duties. 

Draining,  grading,  and  general  ground  work,  such  as  form- 
ing pieces  of  water,  raising  mounds,  preparing  rockeries,  or 
any  similar  rough  operations  to  throw  the  surface  of  the  place 
into  its  leading  shapes  and  outlines  may  then  be  proceeded 
with,  always  leaving  space  enough  around  the  house  un- 
touched that  the  builders  may  not  interfere  with  what  is 
done. 

While  the  ground  is  still  unpoHshed  but  the  general  shape 
of  everything  correctly  marked  out,  the  planting  should  be 
done.  It  always  disturbs  the  grass  to  plant  after  it  has  been 
laid  down.  And  as  the  house  will  no  doubt  be  almost 
finished  by  this  time,  the  edgings  of  the  walks  can  then  be 
formed,  which  may  be  done  by  inverting  sods,  cut  about 
nine  inches  thick,  and  a  foot  in  length  and  breadth,  along  the 
margins,  laying  them  so  as  to  allow  about  from  one  to  three 
inches  to  pare  off  at  the  top,  and  a  similar  piece  on  the  sides 
next  the  walk.  These  sods  will  be  found  to  make  excellent 
edgings,  in  point  of  firmness;  and  after  they  are  laid,  the 
ground  can  be  leveled  to  them  and  to  the  beds  and  planta- 
tions, ready  for  putting  on  the  turf,  or  for  sowing  with  grass 


290  Landscape  Gardening 

seeds,  either  or  both  of  which  processes  may  follow,  if  it  hap- 
pens to  be  the  right  season.  Of  course,  however,  it  is  assumed 
that  the  planting,  and  all  the  other  things  here  spoken  of, 
will  be  done  only  at  the  periods  of  the  year  already  recom- 
mended as  most  suitable. 

As  soon  as  the  grass  is  duly  laid  and  settled,  and  the  work- 
men have  left  the  house,  the  edgings  of  the  walks  can  then 
be  accurately  cut,  obser\dng  to  pare  them  down  quite  square, 
and  take  out  the  soil  to  the  very  bottom  of  the  foundation  of 
the  walk;  othei^ise  grass  and  weeds  will  be  continually  rising 
afterwards  and  destroying  the  regularity  and  evenness  of  the 
lines.  The  edgings  towards  the  borders  or  beds  can  be  cut  at 
the  same  time,  or  earlier  if  desired.  The  gravel  may  then  be 
spread  on  the  walks,  and  the  whole  will  be  completed. 

But  it  is  quite  possible  that  workmen  may  be  detained  at 
the  house,  plastering  or  painting  the  exterior,  for  some  time 
after  the  principal  parts  of  the  garden  have  been  finished. 
In  that  case,  it  will  be  proper  to  defer  leveling  and  sodding 
as  much  of  the  space  adjoining  the  house  as  they  are  likely 
to  trample  over,  and  make  all  tjnis  good  after  they  have  been 
entirely  removed,  or  much  of  the  sod  will  most  likely  be  trod- 
den out  of  place  or  destroyed.  Especially  is  it  requisite  to 
refrain  from  planting  near  a  house  until  all  its  outer  portions 
have  received  the  last  touches,  for  it  is  almost  certain  that 
many  of  the  plants  would  otherwise  be  injured  and  broken. 


INDEX 


Access  to  the  house,  132 
Accessibihty,  2 
Altitude,  8 

Animals  in  parks,  igg 
Apparent  extent,  54,  58 
Approaches,  23 
Appropriation,  96 
Aquatic  plants,  225 
Arbors,  234 

Architectural  gardens,  171 
Artificial  mounds,  32 
Artificial  ponds,  227 
Aspect,  17 
Association,  102 
Aviaries,  245 

Banks  of  lakes,  229 
Biographical  note,  xiii 
Blending,  52 
Boathouses,  232 
Border  plantings,  151 
Boundaries,  1 1 
Boundary  treatment,  81 
Boundary  walls,  146 
Bowling  green,  221 
Branching  walks,  no,  113,  14] 
Breadth  of  lawn,  55 
Bridges,  231 
Building  walks,  261 

Carriage  turn,  138 
Character,  89 
Choice  of  a  place,  r 
Clearings,  260 
Climate,  12 
Climbing  plants,  186 
Clumps  of  trees,  35 
Combination  of  elements,  103 
Compactness,  49 
Concealment  of  outbuildings,  ( 


Contrast,  84 
Convenience,  48 
Cost  of  maintenance,  128 
Croquet  grounds,  222 
Curved  walks,  266 

Drainage,  257 
Drives,  43 

Eccentricities,  40 
Economy,  127 
Edgings  for  walks,  191 
Entrance  features,  133,  247 
Evergreens,  161 

Fences,  38,  59,  143,  147 
Fields,  194 
Fitness,  96 

Flower  beds,  30,  116,  118,  15c 
Flower  beds  in  winter,  187 
Flower  garden,  202 
Flowers  and  grass,  157 
Foreground  treatment,  63 
Formality,  41 

Garden  architecture,  161 
Gate  lodge,  246 
General  principles,  46 
Geometrical  figures,  41 
Grading,  16,  83,  121,  268 
Grading  land,  196 
Grading  to  the  walk,  142 
Grading  walks,  57 
Graduation,  or  transition,  53 
Greenhouses,  239 
Grouping,  71,  82,  183 
Groups,  153 

Hedges,  188 
Herbaceous  plants,  156 
Historical  considerations,  7 
House  plans,  18 


292 


Index 


Imitation  of  nature,  97 

Shadows,  184 

Improvement  of  shelter  belts,  36 

Shady  spots,  188 

Intricacy,  47 

Shapes  of  trees,  180 

Shelter,  13,  129 

Kitchen  garden,  44,  242 

Shelter  plantings,  190 

Shrubbery  walks,  197 

Mixed  styles,  39 

Simplicity,  47 

Monotony,  42 

Single  trees,  196 

Mounds  and  banks,  176 

Sky  lines,  152 

Small  matters,  175 

Natural  features,  95 

Sodding  lawns,  283 

Natural  style,  123 

Soil,  9 

Neighborhood  environment,  5 

Special  collections,  216 

Nursery  stock,  278 

Special  features,  194 

Special  situations,  285 

Originality,  88 

Specimen  plants,  158 

Overdoing,  28 

Staking  trees,  280 

Overexposure,  38 

Statuary,  237 

Overplanting,  34 

Styles  of  gardening,  93,  107 

Summer  houses,  234 

Particular  objects,  175 

Surprises,  40 

Perspective,  60 

Symmetry,  53 

Picturesque  style,  124 

Planting,  269 

Tennis  courts,  222 

Planting  out,  274 

Terrace  plantings,  169 

Plantings  on  shores,  230 

Terrace  treatments,  121 

Playgrounds,  219 

The  gardener,  272 

Poverty  of  expression,  92 

The  "  long  walk,"  136 

Practical  considerations,  127 

Thickets,  1 59 

Practical  directions,  257 

Treatment  of  walks,  140 

Preface  to  American  edition,  x 

Tree  belts,  34 

Preface  to  first  edition,  v 

Preparations  for  planting,  269 

Undergrowth,  160 

Program  of  work,  287 

Unity  of  parts,  51 

Protectors  for  trees,  148 

Unsuitable  ornaments,  40 

Removal  of  trees,  39 

Variety,  68 

Repton  on  trees,  180 

Various  accessories,  234 

Richness  and  polish,  67 

Vases,  237 

Rockeries  and  fern  gardens,  209 

Views,  15,  76,  79 

Rose  garden,  213 

Vistas,  62 

Rustic  work,  :i^ 

Walks,  70 

Seaside  gardens,  255 

Water,  122 

Seclusion,  50 

Water  treatment,  80 

Securing  stock,  278 

What  to  avoid,  28 

Seeding  lawns,  284 

Winter  garden,  218 

D.  H.  KILL   LIBRARY 
North  Carolina  State  College 


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